Born Ready
by thesituation016
Summary: For Gwen it was about family and that's what she found when Splinter and the turtles took her in. For Jenny it was adventure and new friendship, an exciting twist in her life brought about by her asspiring news reporting best friend April. Together they will make the most fearsome team of heroes to hit the streets of New York City.
1. Chapter 1

A small shadow quickly weaved through the evening crowds of New York City keeping her head down, no one questioning why the little girl was out on her own. She had long loosely curled soft brown hair sticking out from under a black knit sock cap and green eyes darted around her looking for danger. She wore an old dark brown bomber jacket, a black sweater jacket, and a black long sleeved shirt with a green shirt over it, a pair of cargo camouflage pants, a thick green scarf, a pair of worn black converse, and a worn black backpack. All of her clothes were clearly too big for her small frame, but with the help of some rope she managed.

She slipped into an alley making her way to the fence at the back where she moved aside a slat slipping through. Once on the other side she stopped short at the sound of rolling thunder and glancing up at the angry clouds gathering above her.

Already she could feel droplets falling down on her gathering in strength as she made her way through the back alley always on the alert for trouble and a place to crash. She pulled the hood of her sweater jacket up over her head and went on until she came to a stop in front of a slightly open manhole.

Gazing down she could see a ladder going down into the dark depths. She needed a place to stay and she had heard stories of underground places in New York so she gave it a chance. She pushed the manhole a little more so she had room to slip through and went down until she reached the bottom.

She dug into her pack pulling out a flashlight and gazed around herself uncertainly before she picked a direction to take. The dripping of water could be heard from all directions as the rain gathered in strength above ground forcing her to the edge of the luckily freshwater sewer to avoid the water racing down the center, but she was not careful enough.

She lost her footing causing her to slip on the slick surface and fall into the water drainage. The current pulled her along and banged her against walls and pipes as she fought with all her will to keep her head above water. The current finally slowed enough for her to grab onto a pipe and pull herself out of the rushing water. She tried to stand, but pain shot up her right leg. Looking down she saw that it was swollen. The pain made her start to cry and they became sobs when she realized that no one would come for her.

She pulled her left leg up to her chest unable to move her right as she leaned against the sewer wall shaking from pain and the cold. She muffled her crying in her arms as she tried to force herself to calm down, that's when she heard it, approaching of strange footsteps.

"Who's there?" She asked fearfully.

"I mean you no harm child." An older voice said gently. "Are you hurt?"

"My…my ankle hurts real bad." She sniffled as she made out a short shadow not too far from her.

"What is your name?" He asked.

"I'm Gwen." She replied shakily. "Who are you?"

"My name is Splinter. I am going to come out now, but you must try not to be afraid, I do not look as you might think." He said and her eyes widened as a rat man slowly stepped forward out of the shadows.

"Wow." Gwen said in amazement causing Splinter to smile slightly.

"Where do you live?" Splinter asked as he kneeled down in front gently rolling up her pant leg and removing her shoe revealing her swollen bruised ankle.

"Nowhere." Gwen sniffled.

"What do you mean?" He asked in concern.

"I was an orphan, a doorstep baby was what Matron called me, but no one ever wants to adopt me because I'm not special so I decided to take care of myself." Gwen replied raising her chin a bit trying to seem like it didn't bother her, but the trembling of her lips told the truth.

"But you are only a child." Splinter furrowed his brows.

"I'm better off on my own." Gwen said with a frown. "My parents didn't want me, the people that came to the orphanage didn't want me, so I don't want any of them."

"I see." Splinter said softly then sighed knowing he could not leave the child on her own nor could he take her to a place where she could receive help. "Gwen, I need to take you to my home with me so I can take care of your leg. Is that ok?"

"I guess." Gwen said hesitantly as she eyes the rat man, but she couldn't see anything dishonest about him.

"I must tell you Gwen, I have four sons and they are different." Splinter told her as he wrapped her ankle with his sash making sure it was tight enough causing the pain to ebb.

"Are they like you? I mean are they rat people to?" Gwen asked as she wiped her tears away with the back of her sleeve having calmed down the more she talked with Splinter.

"They are not rat people, no." Splinter chuckled. "But they are different, they are…turtle people."

"Really!" Gwen said in excitement surprising Splinter.

"Yes." Splinter nodded, giving her look between amused and questioning. "That makes you happy?"

"I love turtles, they're my favorite animals." Gwen smiled, her fears completely gone now, replaced with excitement. "I know I'll like them now."

"I'm glad; I believe my sons will like you as well." Splinter gathered her up in his arms being careful about her ankle as they made their way through the various tunnels. Soon they came to a larger space that had obviously been turned into a home where they were instantly bombarded by four turtle children.

"What'd you bring? What'd you bring?" A hyperactive turtle boy asked over and over again in excitement as they all peered curiously at Gwen who stared back at them in wonder. "Wow! Best present ever!"

"It's a girl!" A turtle with glasses observed.

"No duh genius." A snarky turtle rolled his eyes.

"Who is she?" The calmer of the turtles asked.

"This is Gwen and she will be staying with us for a time." Splinter said calmly as he sat Gwen down on an old couch. Gwen took off her jackets, scarf, and shoes leaving her in her long sleeved shirt and cargo pants then the calmer turtle came up to her with a blanket.

"Thank you." Gwen smiled as she wrapped a blanket around herself, the turtle nodding back with a slight blush.

"Keep her company while I get the first aid kit and something dry for her to wear." Splinter told them as he stood up.

"Cool!" The hyper turtle cheered as he rushed over plopping down on the couch next to her. Splinter sighed shaking his head in amusement as he walked out of the room. "I'm Michelangelo and these are my brothers Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael, but you can call us Mikey, Leo, Donnie, and Raph."

"Nice to meet you all." Gwen smiled, the others replying with their on welcoming words. Splinter came back in smiling as he saw them getting along and feeling relieved as well. He kneeled down and started to take care of Gwen's leg then gave her a large thick sweater as well as some pajama pants. He shooed the boys out giving her privacy to change.

"Gwen, when we are down I can take you back to the surface, I can leave you near a police station so they can take care of you." Splinter said as he came back in as soon as she was dressed.

"No!" Gwen snapped causing Splinters eyes to widen as well as the boys. "I won't go back to the orphanage, I don't want to be there anymore."

"Why not?" Leo asked.

"Cause people who come there only want to adopt pretty girls, the special ones, they take one look at me and…and…" Gwen sniffled rubbing her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "I don't want to feel like that anymore." Gwen made to get up off the couch. "Just take me back up, I can make my own way."

"You can stay with us." Mikey said cheerfully, the others agreeing quickly, causing Gwen's eyes to snap to him then back to Splinter who looked uncertain.

"Really?" Gwen asked cautiously, the four boys turning to their father hopeful. Under the combine puppy dog look from the five children Splinter let out a sigh, a small smile spreading across his lips as he nodded. The boys let out a cheer clambering around Gwen who had the largest smile she could ever remember having plastered across her face.

-0-

When Gwen joined the strange yet loving family she also took on the art of ninjitsu. Master splinter had explained to her that she would be a Kunoichi, a female ninja. She studied hard to try and keep up with her brothers as best she could despite that they were more physically enhanced than a human such as herself.

For her weapon she chose the chain whip, a difficult weapon to master, but she was determined. The thirteen year old was up late past her bedtime in the dojo practicing her moves, the chain moving rapidly around her. She had to get better, faster, and stronger, she couldn't be a weak link in her family.

"Gwen?" A voice called softly from the door to the dojo startling her causing her focus to slip.

"Ah!" Gwen cried out when the chain caught her ankle. She dropped her weapon falling to the ground clutching her ankle as it throbbed in pain.

"Oh geeze, Gwen, I'm so sorry." Leo ran over to her.

"No, it's my fault, I should have been more aware of my surroundings." Gwen gritted her teeth as Leo moved her hands from her ankle checking the already forming bruise.

"We better get some ice on it." Leo helped her up onto her feet wrapping one of her arms around his neck so she could limp to the kitchen. He set her down in one of the kitchen chairs while he grabbed a rag and got some ice putting it into the rag. "What were you doing training so late without dad?"

"Nothing." Gwen replied quickly as she took the ice from Leo applying it to her ankle.

"Really? Nothing?" Leo raised an eye ridge.

"I was…I…" Gwen sighed. "You guys are so awesome, you pick up everything so easily and I, well, I can't. I do my best, but I'm still so weak compared to you and the others. Whenever we spar I'm always the first out no matter what." Gwen frowned in frustration. "I just want to keep up with you all so I train at night for an extra hour or so when everyone is asleep."

"Gwen, you don't have to push yourself so hard. You're a great Kunoichi." Leo said encouragingly, taking her hands into his.

"Then why am I always the first to lose when we spare?" Gwen frowned. "I never seem to be able to keep up with you and the others."

"You will, you just need to find you're skill in how you fight." Leo rubbed the back of her small hands with his thumbs. "If you like I can help you."

"That would be great." Gwen smiled as she jumped to her feet forgetting about her ankle causing her to stumble forward. Her hands braced themselves on Leo's chest while his hands went to her hips to steady her. She gazed up at him as he starred down at her causing their faces to flush before they bashfully stepped apart. "Thank you Leo."

"Anything for you Gwen." Leo ducked his head, his cheeks tenting slightly, neither noticing Splinter watching from the doorway looking thoughtful.

"_You are extraordinary, my children. Unlike anything the world has ever seen. Bound for greatness. Destined to protect the people of New York. A dark force is growing. A criminal organization known as the Foot Clan. So named because they step over the good people of this city with no regard. Their leader, The Shredder, will come at you with ferocity. His Foot Clan will outnumber you. The people of New York will look upon you as their only hope. Eyes focused. Elbows locked. Stance low. And we begin. Be one with the blades. Lead their path. I know you are eager to answer their calls, but your training is not yet complete. The world below must remain your home. As your father, you must trust me. Patience. You're not yet ready to go above ground. But I believe when that day comes and you rise to the streets, you are going to be responsible for amazing things."_


	2. Chapter 2

Jenny, a young girl of Japanese and Brazilian descent, cheered happily as she zoomed down the sidewalk on her hot pink and black freestyle bike. Secured to the back was a pizza bag from her after school job containing four delicious everything on them pizza pies. She wore the standard red polo shirt for the pizzeria she represented with a baseball cap with the same logo on it on her head with her hair tucked up into it, a pair of black ripped acid wash shorts, and her favorite hot pink converse.

Yeah her shoe color clashed with her shirt color, but her hair that was hidden under her cap was already colored a bubblegum pink so the clashing of her shoes with her shirt didn't matter to her.

Her chocolate brown eyes were focused on the path ahead, but since the sun was starting to set sending people inside and she was not on one of the most popular streets she had a lot of room to maneuver in. She quickly crossed the street and popped her bike back up onto the sidewalk stopping in front of a run-down building. She propped her bike up taking the pizzas from the pack and walked over to the grating kneeling down next to it.

"Hey, you there?" Jenny called out as she knocked on the grate.

"Right here dudette." A cheerful surfer boy voice answered.

"Hello again, here's your pizzas, piping hot and fully loaded." Jenny said cheerfully as she started to slide the pizza's down to him through a hole in the grating.

"Sweet. You make it?" He asked.

"Of course." Jenny smiled as he cheered.

"So how goes life?" He asked.

"It goes well, learned a few new tricks on my bike, schools as boring as heck, and oh yeah!" Jenny dug through her black satchel covered in badges and pulled out a few comics. "I got you some new comics."

"You are the best!" Mikey cheered taking the comics and handing her up the money for the pizza.

"Yes, yes I am." Jenny grinned before sitting cross legged on the sidewalk. "Hey, am I ever going to get to see you, I mean like face to face?"

"Jen, I just…I can't…I'm sorry…" He trailed off.

"It's ok, sorry I brought it up." Jenny said quickly and they slipped into their normal talks. The first time about two months ago she had made the delivery to 122 and an eighth she had been skeptical to say the least. In short she had yelled when the voice under the grate she had been standing on called out to her. It had scarred the crud out of her, but intrigued as well causing her to strike up a conversation with the voice. Ever since that first conversation they hit it off and the two of them became fast friends due to their shared interests, plus he always made her laugh. She just wished they could meet face to face. They had just started to talk about some new games when her phone went off. "Hello?...ok…I'll be right there." Jenny hung up with an annoyed sigh. "I have to go, got another delivery, see you later Mikey."

"You to Jen." He replied as Jenny ran over to her bike. The grate lifted slight allowing a pair of baby blue eyes to peek out watching her retreating form.

-0-

Jenny came out of the pizzeria pulling her work shirt off over her head revealing a black shirt with the words 'Stay True To You' written in cursive neon pink. She walked over to her bike as she stuffed her shirt into her satchel and pulled her favorite coat, a knee length hot pink duster that had been hanging on her satchel. Then she took off her hat shaking out her jaw hair which was cut into an inverted bob with the longest part reaching below her jawline and the shorter side just below her ear.

"Jell-O." Jenny answered happily as she answered her phone.

"Jen, its April." April said.

"I know, I have caller ID." Jenny said unchaining her bike, cradling the phone between her shoulder and ear.

"Smart butt." April scoffed.

"As long as I'm a smart one." Jenny grinned. "Hey, I saw your report, that weird bird exercise thing, you did good." Jenny said, trying to build her friend up knowing her job frustrations. "The subject sucked, but you were very good at not showing it…completely…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen, I need you to meet me down at the docks." April cut her off.

"The docks?" Jenny echoed as she pulled on her black knit cat ear cap. "Does this have anything to do with the really dangerous group of thugs you've been trying to chase down for a story?"

"Maybe…" April answered slowly.

"And you want me, a fifteen year old freshman high school girl to ride her bike through New York in the dark to meet you there?" Jenny raised an eyebrow.

"…Yes?" April replied hesitantly.

"Cool, I'll be right there." Jenny smiled brightly.

"Thank you so much." April cheered.

"No prob, see you in a bit." Jenny said and took off on her bike to the docks. She whistled as she made her way, the sun having gone down a while ago leaving the city only illuminated by artificial lighting that shimmered on the mist that had rolled in. "April."

"Jenny, hey, thanks so much for coming." April greeted her as they stopped next to a chain link fence that separated the street from the docks.

"So what do you got?" Jenny asked.

"These restricted chemicals called benzyl cyanide and some de-animating agents were stolen, you know, those used in genetic research, I told you about it." April said in excitement as Jenny nodded. "And the only other place that ships them in is here."

"And so you think they're going to hit here as well." Jenny said with a thoughtful look.

"Exactly." April nodded then a loud clang of metal on metal sounded. "Sounds like they're already here."

"Maybe we should call someone." Jenny commented as they looked out over the rainy cargo ben filled docks before looking back to April who was already dialing.

"Channel 6." They answered.

"Not who I had in mind." Jenny deadpanned.

"Chris, Chris, its April. I'm at the docks." April started, but Chris cut her off.

"We're in the middle of the evening brief, O'Neil. Whatever you got can wait for tomorrow." Chris hung up on her.

"No, no, I need..." April tried to stop him with no luck.

"They're not coming, are they?" Jenny said as April shook her head in frustration. "Well, then we'll just have to do this on our own, right?"

"Right." April nodded, then led the way as they rode their bikes down for a closer look. They came to a part in the fence that was covered in black tarp, but managed to spot a hole to look through. They could see a lot of men who were dressed all in black loading up their vehicles with the contents of the cargo containers.

"2-3-2, clear!"

"That one's loaded."

"Get it out of my way."

"Copy that."

"Damn it." April tried to get her camera phone to take a picture, but it was too dark.

"Up and over?" Jenny gestured up and April nodded, the two of them climbing up and over the fence landing quietly as they could on the other side. They moved through the containers keeping out of sight of the Foot. Suddenly there were a series of clangs and thuds causing both girls to look around for the source.

"Unit two, area three, move!"

"I've got movement!"

"Keep your eyes over here!"

"Weapons free!"

"Hold position!"

One of the containers started to move, slowly at first then was thrust forward into the Foot sending many of them flying into the river. Another of the containers was thrust forward doing the same and severely deteriorating the Foots numbers.

"Retreat! Retreat!" The woman called out and they all ran to their cars, piling in as fast as they could leaving the wounded behind. April pulled Jenny back just as they passed making sure they weren't seen, the cars squealing by through the ship yard.

"Get out of here!" The last of the cars vanished into the rainy night.

"What is that?" Jenny nearly yelped as she pointed to a large shadow that flipped up onto a roof taking out a light casting it into darkness.

"Shoot." April snapped as she raised her phone too late to get the shot, the shadow disappearing. Glancing around she noticed Jenny looking at a piece of graffiti, her brows raised in interest.

"Family." Jenny breathed out.

"What?" April came over to her.

"That's what that symbol means, it's Japanese for family." Jenny reached out touching the symbol on the side of the container and pulled her hand back showing her fingers to April. "The paints fresh, they must have done it."

April quickly got some shots of it then led Jenny back out of the ship yard. They quickly made their way back to their shared apartment where their other roommate was already curled up in the couch with her computer. It was a pretty good apartment, much more than the three girls should have been able to afford given their jobs. It was because of Jenny's father that they were able to afford it.

He was a wealthy business man and while he had to travel so much that his visits with his daughter were limited there was no love lost between them. He video chatted with her and did his best to be there for her never once missing a birthday or holiday. The only reason Jenny had the job that she did was for the experience in the pizzeria having a vast love for cooking.

"Taylor. Taylor!" April ran into the apartment that she and Jenny shared with a blonde who was currently on the couch sitting in front of her computer.

"Hey. I'm Skyping with my mom." Taylor said happily as Jenny plopped down next to Taylor waving to the woman on the screen who waved back.

"You have no idea what Jenny and I just went through." April started right away, Jenny reaching out and discreetly muting Taylor's mom so she didn't hear what April was about to spill. "I am freaking out. We saw a Foot Clan attack."

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked them in concern.

"Fine." Jenny waved her off. "It was just a little scuffle, nothing big..."

"Jenny and I were riding our bikes by the docks. It was night, its dark already and there are Foot Clan soldiers everywhere." April told her excitedly, completely ignoring Jenny trying to downplay the event. "Then out of nowhere, there was this guy fighting back against them. And he... He left behind this symbol. And I know that I've seen it before. I can't remember where. Jenny said it mean family. But there is someone fighting back against the Foot Clan. There is a vigilante in this city. And no one knows, except for me and Jenny." April's eyes really lit up as she thought it all over while Taylor and Jenny watched her. "I know. And now I have my story." April stood up straight and proud. "There is no more froth and foam for me."

"What?" Taylor looked to Jenny for an explanation.

"I have no idea on most of that." Jenny said as she eyed April, a little worried.

"Never mind." April shook her head grabbing Jenny's arm, pulling her off the couch, and down the hall. Jenny spent a very long and boring night listening to April's report over and over again until the aspiring reporter was sure she had it down. While April was ranting Jenny was filling up another sketch book with her comic ideas, this one revolving around the strange vigilante taking out the foot clan. She drew the shadow they had seen at the docks. She knew one thing for certain, this guy was either carrying around an overly large back pack or he was abnormally shaped.


	3. Chapter 3

Jenny was once again on the streets headed home after school as she was not scheduled to work that night, but first she had to take a subway ride to get there. Then April and the perv, her nickname for Vern, would pick her up and take them the rest of the way home. She should have been home a lot sooner, night in the big city being no place for anyone, but she had made a stop off at her favorite art store and time had gotten away from her. She had to get new sketch books after filling her last one up to the brim, some pens, pencils, artist gloves, basically every tool anyone would need to draw a comic. She was almost ready to start committing her idea to her story boards which she would have delivered to the apartment.

Jenny carried her bike down the stairs to the subway rushing to the train making it just before doors closed. She sat her bike out of the way holding onto the rail hanging from the ceiling. As they moved along she looked around herself, smiling slightly at everyone on their phones. She herself was content with her I pod in her ears listening to Girls Generation and singing along under her breath.

When it came to the next stop she came out with a hop in her step as she continued to hum along, but then everything descended into chaos and the screams started. Men in black fatigues poured into the subway station led by a severe looking woman with red in her black hair.

They made quick work of grabbing the passengers that tried to make a run for it and shoving them up against the wall or down onto the ground. Jenny was grabbed and thrown to the ground with some of the other captives as her bike and satchel were tossed to the side.

"Hey! My bike! My satchel!" Jenny snapped, but a gun in the face gave her pause. "Not cool…"

"Stay down." The man at the other end growled. Jenny glared up at him, but knew there was nothing she could do. This was a gun fight and she didn't even have a knife.

-0-

Gwen and Leo circled one another, their weapons held at the ready and eyes narrowed in concentration. The background noise of Raph's punching bag, Donnie inventing, and Mikey's games fading away as they focused on one another. Suddenly they sprung at each other without warning, their movements precise to the point of looking like a dance more than a battle.

Over the years Gwen had learned how to use certain advantages over her brothers in order to win a fight on occasion. Mikey was pretty gullible at times if you got him distracted making it easy to trick him, Raph was all emotion so getting him worked up was useful, Donnie liked to plan so being erratic through him off, but for Leo it was more of a challenge. He studied his opponent just as much as she did on and off the training mat.

She managed to wrap one of her chains around his arm, but knew there was no way she could pull him, in fact, that was what she was counting on. Leo acted on instinct yanking his arm back and using this as a boost Gwen ran at him flipping over him pulling his arm with her causing it to cross his chest. Then she ducked under his opposite side wrapping the chain around his legs. She stopped in front of him with a smirk and pushed him back certain that she had won, but forgot about his free hand which grabbed her pulling her with him. The two of them landed in a heap on the ground with Gwen spread across his plastron. They rocked slightly back and forth due to Leo landing on his shell.

Groaning Gwen managed to raise her head only to come nose to snout with Leo whose eyes went wide feeling her nose brush against his snout. Gwen's lips slowly slipped into a smirk when she felt Leo's arms wrap around her holding her in place, his own lips smiling up at her.

"You know if you keep this up they're going to find out." Gwen hummed, her lips barely brushing his.

"They don't have a clue." Leo's hand wondered to her hair and was about to bring her into a kiss.

"LEO, GWEN!" Donnie called out and rapid footsteps approaching them caused Leo to shoot up causing Gwen to fall over on the ground just as Donnie burst in. "We got trouble."

"What is it?" Leo asked as he helped Gwen up, trying not to notice the glare she shot him.

"Let me show you." Donnie said, calling out to the others as they ran to his monitoring station. They all took in the various screens depicting what was going down in the subway.

"Shots fired, Broadway and Center Street." Donnie said as his hands moved over his various keyboards. "Surveillance up-links are showing heavy, heavy Foot Clan activity at the Broad Street platform."

"They're taking hostages." Gwen breathed out.

"But you know we're not supposed to go above ground." Raph pointed out smugly to Leo.

"We've done this before." Leo said in determination. "We started something, we gotta finish it."

"This is insane. That cat is playing Chopsticks with chopsticks!" Mikey said in astonishment.

"Don't be an idiot." Raph snapped, hitting Mikey.

"Aw." Mikey whined.

"Raph, don't hit Mikey, Mikey, focus and turn off the cat video." Gwen told them both.

"Yes mom." They said in monotone voices together, but another sharp glare had them doing as she said.

"Okay." Leo said looking to the others with a grin. "Let's rock 'n' roll, guys!"

As one they all grabbed their weapons and headed for the exit being careful not to get caught by their father on the way out.

-0-

The yells were echoing off the tiled walls of the subway as on either side of the tracks people were being held at gun point while other disbursed the bombs. Jenny watched stiffly as the men moved around the room, the whole situation puzzling her. This wasn't some terrorist attack, they would have killed them all and run by now, no, this was a trap, but for who?

"Run!"

"Get out!"

"Go, go!"

"If you want to live, do it! Go on!"

"Just stay down!"

"Get over here!"

"Keep moving!"

"Keep your hands where I can see them!"

"Move to the side."

"They're bombs.

"Shut up!"

Jenny let out a sharp gasp when she saw April being dragged in and thrown to the ground a few people away from her. She should have known those reporter instincts would lead her straight down here as soon as she saw those people who escaped.

"On the ground!"

"Nobody move!"

"We know you're out there!" The oriental woman called out and Jenny felt her eyes bug out when she saw April taking out her phone. "If you don't surrender, we start executing hostages!"

"Get your head down!"

"Don't move!"

"Don't make me tell you again! Not a word!"

"Don't look at me!"

"Don't! Don't do it!" Jenny pleaded in a whisper as she starred at April in fear. "And she's doing it." The she started a new chant. "Turn off the sound, turn off the sound..." But she didn't. "…and click goes the camera phone."

"You! Stand up!" The oriental woman known as Karai pointed her gun straight at April having seen the phone. Karai charged at April flanked by some of her men, their weapons in hand.

"Hey, whoah, hold up, ok? Now most people would feel pretty good about being filmed, get some hits on Youtube, that's how Beiber got his shot! And it's free advertisement for whatever you guys are protesting or terrorizing…" Jenny quickly stood up in front of April holding her hands out in a pacifying gesture. "Now how about you just take the phone and you can delete the video if you don't like it, no harm no foul..."

"What..." April started.

"Shut up April." Jenny snapped over her shoulder.

"You're very foolish." Karai sneered down at Jenny.

"Been called worse." Jenny sighed. "But there's no need for any violence right now. It was just a stupid mistake..."

"Grab them both, they will be the first to die." Karai said.

"And now you've made a stupid mistake." Jenny's face went from cheerful to serious as she slipped into a fighting stance.

"What do you think you're doing child?" Karai laughed.

"I thought it was obvious..." Jenny looked down at her stance, shifting a bit then nodding to herself. "Yeah, pretty sure I'm getting ready to kick your butt, take your name...what is your name anyway?"

"I'm Karai second in command of the Foot Clan..." Karai laughed as she slipped her gun into her holster, over confident in her abilities thinking she was facing off against a novice child. "And you better remember it."

"Oh yeah, that's about all I'm going to do for the rest of my life is go around remembering your name." Jenny rolled her eyes. "So what are you guys? A bunch of Podiatrists or something?"

"You would do well not to antagonize me more than you already have." Karai growled.

"But I'm doing it so well." Jenny grinned as Karai got ready to teach the child a lesson.

Karai had no idea that she was a student of Capoeira, a Brazilian fighting style taught to her by her mother and then continued through her instructor here in New York. Jenny started off with her Ginga style moving back and forth alternating both legs. Her hands were moving with her body aiming to protect those parts of herself that were open and easy to be attacked.

They launched into a rapid attack, but Jenny countered with an Au, a cartwheel like move, but in Capoeira the Aú is performed slowly. Her arms and legs bent forward to protect her from incoming kicks and attacks. More attacks were exchanged, Karai growing angry with the strange moves she was facing.

"What is this?" Karai snarled as Jenny had stopped in a handstand position looking toward Karai. She used this move for a quick break and to see Karai's next move would be.

"Capoeira and my own personal dance flare." Jenny grinned as she flipped around to avoid an attack while delivering a few of her own, but a shove from behind threw her off giving Karai an opening. Karai delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to Jennys's side causing her to stumble into two other baddies who grabbed hold of her while Karai approached with an evil smirk taking her gun back out.

"Jenny!" April called out as she tried to get to her, but was held back.

"You cheater!" Jenny snarled as Karai wiped the blood dripping from her split lip.

"You should not have crossed the foot clan." Karai hissed, ready to fire, but then suddenly the lights went out and a train rushed into the station causing flashes of lights, the only reason that four bulky and one lithe shadow like blurs could be seen moving amongst the foot taking them down, one smashing into Karai sending her into the wall shattering the tiles.

"All aboard!"

"On your 12!"

"Come on!"

"That's right."

"Like a shadow, bra."

"How you like that?"

"Let's go! Let's move!"

The two men that were holding Jenny were ripped away leaving her free to rush over to April, both watching in awe as the fight was finished almost as soon as it started. The shadows quickly left once the foot clan were incapacitated on the ground and the bombs disarmed.

"They went up that way!" One of the hostages pointed to a construction tube.

"Did you see that?"

"Here, here."

"They climbed up here!"

"Right here."

"Some kind of freak!"

"There were a couple of them!"

"Whoo! Right past me!"

"They saved us." Jenny breathed out then let out a gasp when April grabbed hold of her pulling her along out of the subway.

"Don't you ever do something like that again!" April snapped as she searched around them.

"Oh what, like trying to film the bad guys?" Jenny snapped back pulling April over to where the construction tube came out of the subway and went up the side of the building.

"I wasn't blatantly standing up against them." April snapped as they started up the fire escape. "Nor did I attack one of them or insult them."

"Did you really think they were just going to let you film them and do nothing? They were going to kill you." Jenny said following April up the ladder. "I'm the trained fighter here O'Neil, not you."

"You're only fifteen." April snapped.

"With years of training." Jenny snapped back.

The novice reporter just shushed her in reply as they neared the top. They could hear someone talking, four male someone's to be precise. They were praising one another and themselves on the job they had done in the subway.

"You see that?"

"I smoked that dude! S'up?"

"Yeah, boys, bring it in."

"That was amazing."

"You were incredible!"

"Great elbow, Donnie."

"Oh, yeah!"

"That's what I'm talking about."

"This is our city! These are our streets!"

"You mess with us, you step into the Wu, whoo, Tang!"

"Ooh, yeah! Did you see that guy's jaw connect with the concrete?"

"He'll be drinking out of a sippy cup for months!"

"Ah, that's what I'm talking about, guys."

"Like shadows in the night."

"Completely unseen."

April raised up her camera just over the edge of the building and took her shot causing a bright camera flash to go off freezing the heroes' revelry.

"What was that?"

"It's a camera flash."

"You didn't turn off the flash?" Jenny hissed at April.

"We know it's a camera flash."

"Who's behind the camera flash?"

"By my calculations, it's two girls…"

"Now we got to kill them..."

"Move." April urged Jenny down the ladder.

"What?"

"With kindness! Give them some flowers, earn their trust."

"I got this."

"Raph, no, no, no! Come on!" But it was too late to stop him. A chain shot down over the building grabbing April who only had a moment to share a panicked look with Jenny before she was pulled over like a fish on a hook.

"April!" Jenny scurried up after her friend kneeling down to where she was on the ground clutching her wrist.

There was a sudden thud as a very tall, vary large turtle landed next to them. He was well over six feet, amber eyes, had a pair of sunglasses on top of his head, a brown leather loin cloth, white strips of cloth serving as shorts and along his arms and legs, brown leather ankle cuffs, and a brown strap across his chest.

There was a purple banned turtle was taller than the red, dark brown eyes, muscled wearing some sort of technological back pack over his shell, he wore some sort of metal loin cloth, a pair of shorts, sandals, cloth strips wrapped around his arms and legs, and a belt filled with pockets and gadgets.

The sword wielding blue masked turtle had steely blue eyes, wore a breast plate made of strung together sticks, metal plated loin cloth over black shorts, calf high black socks, shoulder armor, and oriental type makeshift sandals.

An orange banned turtle, the shortest of the bunch who wore some leather crisscrossing straps across his chest, a pair of tight shorts with orange pipping tapped together, a sweater tied around his waist, a pooka shell necklace with a pair of sunglasses hanging from it, knee pads, and a pair of homemade sneaker sandals.

The last was a young woman wearing a high neck long sleeved black shirt, a pair of cuffed dark grey gloves, a pair of dark green harem pants that tucked into ankle high black homemade tabi boots, a pair of goggles were hanging around her neck, and she had an army green tactical vest hanging open. Her mask was a dark green strip of cloth that went across her eyes with two holes cut in it allowing her grey eyes to show while her dark green hair was tied back in a french braid that reached just past her shoulder blades, and hanging from her belt were two silver nine section chains.

"Give me the camera." Raph growled down at them, the two girls clinging to each other as they scurried to their feet.

"Ooh, look, he's doing his Batman voice." Mikey laughed.

"April, please tell me you see what my brain is telling me I'm seeing." Jenny breathed out, April managed a strained noise in response. The strange beings had them cornered on the edge of the building with no way out and they were all starring at them.

"They're so hot, I can feel my shell tightening." Mikey groaned.

"We can hear you!" Raph snapped over his shoulder followed by Gwen slapping Mikey upside the head.

"Sorry." He mumbled rubbing the back of his head as the girl glared up at him.

"If you don't give me the camera, I'm gonna..." Raph started to threaten, Jenny pulling April behind her although she had no idea what she could do against the giant wall of muscle standing before her.

"Enough!" Leo jumped flipping over them and landing on the edge of the building. "Back off, Raph."

"I only saw Batman once!" Raph grumbled as he backed off with a dark look.

"Uh huh." Gwen said disbelievingly.

"Ladies, hello. I apologize. My colleague here forgot to say "please."" Leo jumped down from the ledge moving over to them. "So, would you please hand over the camera?"

Another thud came from behind them causing them to whirl around to face Mikey.

"No, no, no, no. Whoa. Whoa. Chill. It's just a mask." He held up his hands, then took off his orange mask. "See? Don't freak out. Right?"

"Ah!" April's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out, Jenny barely catching her and lowering her to the ground.

"Oh, I think that went well." Donnie turtle commented.

"April!" Jenny said in worry as the purple one kneeled down next to them, but Jenny held her friend close with a protective glare. "Whoah, hey, no, you back off, you back off right now."

"I'm not going to hurt her; I just want to make sure she's ok." Donnie said as he held up his hands to show he meant no harm.

"Yeah, right, and that one over there was just going to ask nicely for April's phone." Jenny nodded over to Raph who was still glaring at them.

"Please, we really are just here to help." Gwen stepped up next to Donnie. Jenny eyed them before slowly allowing him to move April over to a more comfortable spot on the roof and started to look her over as Jenny watched.

"Hey!" Jenny snapped as Leo took April's cell phone from her pocket. "You can't take that, it's stealing."

"We're not going to take it, just erase the pictures she has of us, we'll need yours as well." Leo said and Jenny let out a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess nothing good could come from it if your pictures got out there." Jenny handed her phone over. "I didn't take any pictures, but I suppose you won't believe me about that."

"Probably not." Raph growled causing Jenny to stick her tongue out at him blowing a raspberry and making Mikey laugh. Donnie took the phones and erased the pictures off Aprils before moving on to Jenny's.

"She was telling the truth, she didn't have any of us." Donnie said before going back to April.

"Told you so." Jenny shot a glare at Raph who just scoffed back. Donnie shook his head before kneeling back down next to April. "Is she going to be ok?"

"Oh sure, she's in mundo great hands." Mikey one said patting her on the shoulder.

"You're taking this well." Gwen commented, taking note of the fact that Jenny hadn't even flinched at Mikey's proximity to her.

"Oh trust me, I'm freaking out on the inside, but you saved my life, my friends, and all of those people in the subway so I don't think you're out to do any harm." Jenny reasoned then smiled brightly at them all. "Thank you for that by the way.

"You're welcome." Leo said with a nod, though the eyes of the turtles and the girl conveyed their surprise. Jenny smiled back reassuringly, wanting to put them at some sort of ease, as Mikey grinned flirtatiously down at her.

"So…you come here often?" He winked at her causing her to smile in amusement.

"Only when I have a good reason." Jenny winked back causing his grin to double in size. "I'm Jenny Ito, by the way, and this is my friend April O'Neil." She looked down at the still unconscious girl not noticing the wide eyed look cross Mikey's face before her quickly covered it up. If his family new what he had been up to when he went on pizza runs they'd never let him out of their sights again. "She a lot more fun when she's conscious."

"Breathing steady." Donnie listed off. "Blood pressure stabilizing."

"Why are we still here playing doctor?" Raph snapped.

"She may have a head injury." Leo replied.

"Uh, correction. She's a hot chick with a hot friend who may have a head injury, which makes it our civic duty to..." Mikey cut off as Gwen popped him upside the head again.

"I swear, you keep it up and there will be consequences." Gwen threatened gaining an apologetic smile in return as April came to, Jenny instantly at her side.

"April!" Jenny cheered.

"Ma'am, ma'am. Can you hear me?" Donnie asked as he snapped his fingers in front of her. "Do you know what city you're in? Do you know where you are?"

"Have you seen that video where the cat plays Chopsticks with the chopsticks?" Mikey asked and Jenny let out a burst of laughter.

"I love that video." Jenny giggled causing Mikey to grin brightly.

"Can we focus here?" Gwen called them back to attention.

"Sorry." Jenny and Mikey said in tandem.

"Guys, please! Come on. Give her some air." Donnie tried as they all gathered around April who looked up at them groggily.

"What are you?" April asked groggily.

"Well, Miss, uh, we're ninjas." Leo did a fist in palm bow.

"We're mutants." Raph snarled.

"Well, technically, we're turtles." Donnie said.

"Oh, and we're teenagers!" Mikey added. "But we can still have adult conversations." Mikey wrapped his arm around Gwen giving her a nuggie. "Well, except for our sis here, she's not lucky like we are."

"Hey! Let go!" She squirmed out of his grasp and tried to smooth down her hair.

"Wait, wait, wait. So...you're... ninja, mutant, turtle, teenagers?" April questioned as Jenny helped her stand up.

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds ridiculous!" Donnie scoffed.

"See, she's looking at us like we're freaks." Raph bit out. "I bet that's why you took our picture, wasn't it? To show your friends?"

"Bro, that's a good thing! Maybe they have hot friends for the rest of you guys." Mikey commented then quickly held his hands up as Gwen balled up her fist. "Kidding, kidding…"

"You better be." Gwen shot him a look as April went through her pockets.

"Looking for this?" Raph held up her phone.

"Don't break it. No, no, no. Please." April begged before Leo snatched it from Raph.

"How many times do I have to tell you? We don't break things, we fix them. Donnie already wiped the phone, genius." Leo returned the phone to April. "Problem solved, moving on."

"And who put you in charge?" Raph snapped.

"You know who did." Leo snapped back.

"Ooh, tension!" Mikey teased sarcastically. "It's been like 30 whole minutes since you guys had this argument."

"Leonardo, if we want to make it home before Master, we gotta hustle." Donnie pointed out.

"Leonardo?" April echoed under her breath as he turned to them leaning down so they were all eye to eye.

"Do not say a word about this to anyone. If you do, we will find you. April O'Neil. Jenny Ito." Leo looked between them, no one noticing the orange masked turtle looking to Jenny in surprise, berating himself for not realizing sooner. In his defense though he only ever saw her at night, through a grate in a poorly lit area while she always had a hat on. He had never really gotten a good look at her face, heck he didn't even know her hair was pink. "We're on the move, Raphael."

"Raphael?" April once again echoed, Gwen looking at her suspiciously.

"Come on Gwen." Leo held out his hand to the girl.

"Right." Gwen took hold of his hand as they started to run jumping from the building, Leo sweeping her up into his arms as they ran.

"Yeah! We'll find you, O'Neil, Ito." Mikey said in a creepy voice as he backed away then came back to them. "I'm sorry, that came across super creepy, okay?" He apologized then pointed at them. "We will find you, though."

"This is so cool." Jenny muttered as they watched them run off.

"I was on fire, bro! Did you see me back there? Guys, I totally talked to a girl and she talked back! I think she has a thing for me!" The turtles ran away jumping from roof to roof with amazing skill as April took out her phone trying to get some good shots of them.

"Shut up, Mikey!" The other turtles and Gwen groaned.

"Mikey?!" Jenny yelped, then slapped her hands over her mouth in realization when April slowly looked over to her. In all the excitement it hadn't even occurred to her that it was the same voice from the grate. Now it all made sense.


	4. Chapter 4

Jenny watched as April paced her room in a crazed state, her hair a mess from all the times she ran her hands through it, and a spark in her eyes that was a bit unnerving. Jenny set on the age of her seat feeling a bit like a child be scolded by a parent.

"How could you not know he was a turtle?! You've been delivering pizza to him for months?!" April raved, they had been having this discussion over and over again when Jenny realized the voice matched Mikey's and the same name, it was too much of a coincident not to mean they were one in the same.

"For the millionth time, I never saw him, he was always under a grate, and Mikey is a really common name you know!" Jenny snapped back in frustration.

She was also curious as to why Mikey hadn't commented that he had been the one talking to her through the grate, maybe he didn't recognize her or something. She'd have to bring it up the next time she delivered pizza to him.

"Names, names….Leonardo. I know those names." April raced over to her closet and tore everything out of it before she found a box dumping its contents on the floor. "I know those names. Raphael, Raphael. Leonardo." April held up some tapes and shoved one of them into a camera recorder then played it kneeling on the ground, Jenny coming over and kneeling down next to her to watch as well. "Good evening. This is April O'Neil, reporting live from my daddy's lab."

"Oh, you were so cute…what happened?" Jenny asked playfully getting a punch in the arm.

"I know it sounds pretty boring, but actually, he does some pretty cool stuff." Little April went on.

"Time to put the camera away, April." Her father said and April smiled sadly.

Jenny smiled sympathetically, knowing what it was like to lose a parent, and placed her head on April's shoulder giving her a small hug. April smiled at her friend, thankful for the understanding and support. They were both there for each other on those days when the loss was a little too much to bare alone.

"Aw, Dad!" Little April whined before the camera went off then came back on at another time. "And now I will show you something amazing. It's supposed to be from a different planet in outer space!"

"Here we go." Sacks said.

"Mr. Sacks, what sort of experiments are you doing here?" April asked the other man.

"Oh, that's a very complicated question. We're trying to change the world." He answered with a small chuckle.

"Look at the camera!" Little April filmed one of the glass cages. "Hello, Splinter." A rat looked back at her. "And these are my little turtles, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello." The camera showed each little turtle that was color coded the same as the large turtles. "The fans want to see you!"

"I knew it." April said as Jenny sat back on her heels in amazement. "The vigilante, I saw him. I saw them!" April started to get worked up again prompting Jenny to snag a bean bag and get comfortable. "I saw them. I've known them since I was a little girl. They were my pets. They were my childhood pets, and they were named after Italian Renaissance painters."

"How serendipitous." Jenny commented with a raised eyebrow. "But who was the green haired girl?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." April replied with determination.

"No more froth and foam, huh?" Jenny nodded.

"Exactly." April grinned.

"Mom, I want to move back home." Taylor said as she walked away from April's door.

"I think we're going to need a new roommate." Jenny hummed, but April was too far gone in her new story to pay attention. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

"What do you mean?" April asked her.

"Well, I mean, they might get hurt." Jenny offered with a shrug. "Most people would be afraid of them or they would want to take advantage of them. It's not every day you see four teenage mutant ninja turtles walking around New York City."

"I guess..." April looked thoughtful.

"Anyway it's a problem for tomorrow, just think on it and don't rush off halfcocked ok?" Jenny eyed her reporter friend.

"Right, right..." April nodded.

"Ok, good talk, I've got school and I need sleep so goodnight." Jenny got up.

"Yeah, night..." April said distractedly as she went back to her box of old film. Shaking her head Jenny left April to sort through it all and went to bed. Her mind played the events of the night over and over again. Between Karen, Kari, or whatever her name was, and the talking turtles, one of whom was a friend, her head was spinning, and her strange dreams that night reflected it.

-0-

They raced from building to building jumping down from the roof through an open man hole into New York City underground. They slid through the tunnels on their shells, Gwen safely held in Leo's arms for the sliding parts then following him to his feet as they raced ahead flipping over some pipes, laughing along with the others.

"Yeah, bra!" Mikey cheered as he weaved along on his skateboard.

Gwen's eyes widened when she saw them all coming to a round opening at the same time. She raced ahead of them jumping through, rolling along the ground to her feet while the others were stuck in the opening. Apparently the squeeze was too tight for Mikey.

"Mikey, was that you?" Raph snapped.

"Pepperoni." Mikey laughed.

"What am I going to do with you guys?" Gwen rolled her eyes at them before walked over to them grabbing hold of Mikey's hands and pulling him out, releasing the others as well. They made their way back to their home being as cautiously quiet as they could. Opening the large door they slipped inside, Donnie starting to scan the area right away.

"Is he here?" Raph asked.

"I don't see him." Leo replied. "Donnie?"

"My thermal scans indicate there's a 74% variable that there's a 61% chance he's not..." Donnie started to rant.

"That he's not here, guys." Mikey broke in.

"That he's not here." Donnie finished.

"Okay. Fall in, quietly." Leo urged them as they slipped down into the dojo, four out of the five not making much noise. Mikey on the other hand fell in with a grunt nearly knocking Gwen over if Raph hadn't grabbed her at the last minute.

"Dude." Raph glared at him.

"So, guys, if it wasn't already obvious with that pink haired girl, dibs." Mikey whispered to the others as they placed their weapons back on the wall.

"Mikey, women are not what?" Gwen shot him a look, placing her chains on their hooks.

"They are not possessions, sorry Gwen." Mikey said quickly.

"There you go." Gwen clapped him on the shell getting a chuckle out of him.

"If Master Splinter catches us, he'll send us back to the Ha'shi." Leo shushed them.

"I ain't going back to the Ha'shi." Raph shook his head.

"Every time we're in the Ha'shi, it's because of you." Leo responded shoving Raph's shoulder causing the other three to rolls their eyes at the upcoming fight.

"Well, bro, you won't have to worry about me dragging you down anymore." Raph shot back, shoving Leo aside by his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gwen asked him, stepping between the two.

"I'm going out on my own." Raph answered looking away from her. "First chance I get."

"How are we gonna finish our hip-hop Christmas album, bro?" Mikey broke in. "You're the hype man!"

"Shut up." They all started to shush each other. "Shut up."

"I got glop in my eye." Raph complained.

"Shh! He's not going anywhere." Leo broke in. "We all stick together."

"Sorry I spit in your eye, bro." Mikey apologized to Raph and they broke back into another shush fest.

"Guys? Guys." Donnie broke it all up, standing up straight facing the wall. "We got a bogey."

"Uh oh." Gwen said softly as they all went stiff and a light flashed on behind them.

"Where have you been?" Splinter demanded grabbing Leo by his foot with his tail pulling it out from under him causing him to fall.

"We weren't..." Raph tried, but Splinted picked him up with his tail and dropped him to his knees.

"I forgot to soak my retainer!" Donnie tried to make a run for it, but another lash of the tail knocked him on his back.

"I'm not even going to try." Gwen sighed kneeling down exactly where she was knowing it was no use.

"I'm totally sleepwalking! Look, Mikey's sleeping and walking. He's totally innocent." Mikey walked like a mummy, but was fooling no one and his legs were knocked out from under him as well.

"Enough! You disobeyed a direct order." Splinter snapped at them all. "Why did you go above ground?" No one answered. "What happened?" No one spoke. "Very well. If that's how it's going to be, to the Ha'shi!"

-0-

Gwen stood shakily on one foot atop a stack of books her leg stretched out behind her while in each hand she held up stacks of tea cups and the tea pot on top of her head. Raph was balanced on a tricycle by one foot knitting a red blanket. Donnie was hitting a ping pong ball back and forth while balanced on a rotating board that was balanced on a bowling ball. Leo was doing the splits on a pair of cinder blocks balancing eggs on chopsticks and another on the top of his head. Mikey was on a spinning chain, his hands clutching the arm rests as he held himself upside down over it.

"Ooh, 11 hours in the Ha'shi." Splinter moved through them nudging Raph almost causing him to fall. "Are you sure none of you want to tell me where you were last night?"

"How you holding up, fellas?" Leo asked shakily.

"Ah! I ain't breaking if Donnie ain't breaking." Raph replied.

"Experiencing intense nausea but not breaking." Donnie answered as Splinter gave him a spin. "Gwen?"

"Don't look at me." Gwen breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth as evenly as she could. "I'm not going to break first. Mikey?"

"Guys? I'm in the zone!" Mikey was a still as a stone. "There is literally nothing that could break me right now!" Splinter revealed a pizza box and he started to shake almost violently. "Starting to break."

"Of course, you've all tasted the five-cheese pizza." Splinter told them. "But this, cheesemongers have speculated of its existence for centuries. Da Vinci's original masterpiece. I submit to you..." He opened the box with a flourish. "...the 99-cheese pizza."

"Oh! It's not possible." Mikey breathed out in awe.

"Mikey, it's a trap! A pizza with that variety of cheese is a culinary impossibility!" Donnie cautioned him.

"Shall I list the ingredients?" Splinter asked.

"No." Mikey whimpered.

"Cheddar...Provolone..." Splinter began to list.

"Mikey, don't you do it!" Raph warned.

"Asiago..." Splinter went on.

"Keep it together!" Gwen called out as Splinter got closer to Mikey with a slice of the pizza.

"Taleggio..." Splinter told him.

"I don't even know what that is." Mikey said.

"Mozzarella, of course." Splinter waved the pizza to the scent wafted over to him.

"All right, all right, all right!" Mikey broke and the verbal vomit began. "We left the lair because the Foot were taking hostages and we kicked some serious butt, and there was this girl named April O'Neil who took our picture and her hot pizza delivery friend Jenny Ito, but we took care of it."

"What makes you think she was a pizza girl?" Gwen asked Mikey.

"Uh..." Mikey's eyes went wide. "I could smell it?"

"Idiot." Raph groaned.

"How long?" Gwen asked narrowing her gaze in on Mikey and he knew exactly what she was really asking.

"Couple of months." Mikey winced.

"Oh, no, my worst fears have been realized." Splinter shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." Leo told him. "Donnie erased the picture! We're not in danger. And as for Mikey we just won't let him get the pizza anymore."

"No. It's April O'Neil who is in danger! She and her friend." Splinter replied. "Find the girls. Bring them here."

"But, sensei, you said to not go..." Donnie tried.

"Find the girls!" Splinter snapped.

"Find the girls!" Mikey echoed getting a sharp look from Splinter before they all rushed to do as they were told.


	5. Chapter 5

Jenny was barely paying attention in class as she tapped the eraser end of her pencil on her sketch book willing time to go faster then she'd be free for the weekend. She reached up pushing a strand of black hair behind her ear, a wig she wore at school to hide her against regulations pink hair. She glanced down at her sketchbook, the new one she had bought right before the subway incident that she had been lucky to recover along with her bike, taking in her drawing of the turtles and the girl.

She was currently working on another one of Mikey. She still couldn't believe that all this time she had been talking to a giant ninja turtle. No wonder he never wanted to meet her face to face, he probably thought she'd run screaming into the night.

She was concentrating on a close up trying to capture the light in his eyes. He had such an innocent personality and his eyes were the loveliest shade of baby blue she had ever seen. Suddenly her cheeks burned red as she realized that she may have a crush on a giant turtle.

Jenny was thrown into a pros and cons seizure about the whole thing then quickly shook it off. She was over thinking this, she had only met the...turtle...man...person face to face like once, and before that it was just talking to him through that grate. Sure she had had a crush on him before she had seen him, but it was just that, simple crush that would pass. Chalk it up to teenage hormones and let it go.

She glanced down at her sketch book to see she had absentmindedly drawn a small heart making her slam her sketch book shut gaining a disapproving look from the teacher. Smiling sheepishly and mumbling an apology she ducked her head as class resumed. Apparently finding out the guy she was somewhat crushing on was a ninja turtle had no bearing on her feelings.

Again she mentally berated herself for getting worked up over someone she had practically just met, this was way too much thinking on her part. Instead she decided to just let it all go and see what happened, kind of go with the flow and hopefully things would sort themselves out for her.

As soon as the bell rung Jenny bolted from the class rushing to her locker. She placed her books inside and saw that her phone had a missed call. She opened up the voicemail listening in horror as April told her about being fired from her job. Stuffing the rest of her school things into the locker she grabbed her bag and charged through the halls out the front doors not even caring that she'd be skipping the rest of her classes. She fumed all the way back home slamming the door open to the apartment startling April who had been moping on the couch over the loss of her job.

"Your room now!" Jenny grabbed April by the hand dragging her down the hall, not wanting Taylor who was packing to hear them. Jenny was a generally happy person, but a force of nature when she was angry. Jenny slammed April's door shut before rounding on the young woman. "So this is your plan, you're going to google them, hope to find them, and sell them out to make a story." Jenny snapped as she paced back and forth. "April, if you do that they will be captured and dissected, killed, or worse, put on display like…like…freaks. That isn't right and you should know that."

"Jenny, it was my big chance." April tried.

"No, it was you trying to find a short cut not caring who you were stepping on, I cannot believe you went to your boss about them or that you told Sacs about them, it isn't safe for them." Jenny glared at her.

"Sacks wouldn't hurt them." April argued.

"He's a scientist who mentioned miracle blood, how do you think they're going to get that blood April?" Jenny ground out, but April was far from convinced. Suddenly April's computer that was sitting open on her bed went crazy, glitching in and out until a new picture popped up.

"Bam! You've been hacked! By Donatello. Remember me?" The screen depicted a google map. "Turtle. Four eyes. But enough about me. We told you we'd find you. Both of you meet us here." The ma zoomed in on a location. "And come alone. Or... Or else we're...You shall be punished and stuff."

"That was not threatening at all." Jenny shook her head as she left April's room and went into hers, April following. "Better get changed."

Changed?" April looked over her school uniform.

"Not going trudging around to who knows where in a skirt." Jenny rummaged through her closet putting together the favorite outfit.

She put on a baseball style Batgirl shirt with purple quarter length sleeves, a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a jean jacket with black leather sleeves, a pair of galaxy colored converse, and then tied her hair into a pair of French braids before placing her Gir baseball cap on top of her head.

"Why are you dressing up?" April asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not." Jenny waved her off, trying to hide her blush.

"Uh huh…" April nodded, not believing her. "You're wearing make-up."

"It's just some mascara and lipstick...shut up. Let's just go." Jenny hurried her along out the door, April grabbing her keys on the way out.

-0-

They rode their bikes to the meeting place which was on top of an old building forcing them to climb up all the way up to the top with April leading the way. When they finally made it there was no one in sight, but plenty of places to hide if one wanted to.

"Hello?" April called out looking around for any sign of the turtles. "You told us to come here. We didn't bring anyone with us. We did exactly..."

"Okay!" They suddenly burst out of hiding, Donnie typing on some kind of wrist com, while using a pair of high-tech goggles to scan their eyes. "Are you April O'Neil and Jenny Ito? Initiating retinal scan. Scanning, scanning, scanning, scanning."

"Dude, cut it out, your frying my eyes!" Jenny rubbed her eyes. "You're going to give me glaucoma."

"Scan complete. It's them. It's them. Guys, it's them!" Donnie said in excitement, then looked puzzled. "You can't give someone glaucoma."

"Of course it's them, Donnie." Leonardo wrapped his arms around each of them leading them over to the side. "Hey. Really glad you could make it."

"Us to, what do you want?" Jenny asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"There's someone important we want to introduce you to, but first..." A pair of cloth bags were slammed over their heads then they were each picked up giving them some major vertigo as they were carried off.

-0-

It was a wild ride with the turtles as they were each scooped up, Mikey practically snatching up Jenny, then there was a lot of running and jumping. Jenny had wished she could have seen what was happening around her because it felt like the ultimate thrill ride. April on the other hand sounded like she wanted to be doing anything but. Finally they seemed to enter some sort of tunnel system where they came to a stop and the girls were allowed to stand on their own two feet.

"Aw, yeah, welcome to my crib, girl." Mikey said.

"Where are we?" Jenny asked.

"Hey, it's our Fortress of Solitude. Our Hogwarts. Our Xavier Academy. Our next generation, state-of-the-art WonderDome!" Mikey bragged.

"Batcave?" Jenny offered.

"Exactly." Mikey grinned. "You a fan?"

"How could you tell?" Jenny smirked.

"Ugh." April scrunched up her nose. "Are we in the sewer?"

"No." Mikey sounded embarrassed.

"Technically, yes." Donnie spoke up.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's a sewer." Mikey admitted as the bags were taken from their heads revealing the turtles lair. It was an astounding sight, everything in sight made up of old junk or re-purposed.

"You brought us here, April." An elderly rat stood on a raised platform before a wall of stereos.

"Splinter?" April said in amazement.

"How does she know his name?" Gwen asked.

"Did you tell her his name?" Leo accused.

"Maybe she's clairvoyant." Donnie offered.

"Maybe she's a Jedi!" Mikey took a sip of his orange crush.

"Come closer." Splinter bade her and she cautiously did so, Jenny keeping a respectful distance. "It's been a long time." He studied her face with a wistful smile. "You always did have your father's eyes." His gaze then shifted to Jenny. "And you must be Jenny."

"I am and it is an honor to meet you." Jenny bowed respectfully earning a smile from the elderly rat.

"It is an honor to meet you as well." Splinter replied.

"I don't understand." April shook her head.

"Don't be afraid. All will be made clear." Splinter assured her.

"This is crazy." April was in awe as they all took seats on the pillows that surrounded the platform.

"Listen closely, April. I don't remember a time before living in that laboratory. That fateful night started like any other." Splinter began their story. "Sacks gave us our injections. Your father made sure our vital signs were strong." Splinter smiled at the memory. "And you, as always, provided us with a special treat." His smile turned into a frown. "After the brothers went to sleep, I heard loud voices. There was the smell of smoke. Alarms sounded. Your father had discovered the truth behind the man he was working for. He set fire to the lab. His last breath was taken trying to destroy Shredder's plan." Gwen came to her father's side kneeling down next to him and placing a comforting hand on his. Splinter smiled as he covered her hand with his free paw. "I was terrified. But then, you appeared. And ushered us to safety. I never had a voice then, but I thank you now, April."

"We wandered the sewers until I found this place. It was then that the mutagen that was injected into our blood began to change us in miraculous ways. I saw how your father loved you and I knew I had to show that same love to the turtles. I became their father and they became my sons." Splinter reminisced. "Like all children, they were drawn to the distractions of popular culture. And I knew one day they would want to explore the world above. They would be ridiculed. Little did I know the outside world would find us." Splinter gestured to Gwen. "Gwen, my daughter, found her way into our family when I discovered her injured in the sewers."

"But what about your family? I mean, didn't they look for you?" Jenny asked carefully Gwen.

"I was an orphan." Gwen answered then smiled down at her father. "Master Splinter became my father and the boys are my family now."

"But I was still weary of the rest of the upper world and how it would treat my children. They would need to learn to protect themselves, both mentally and physically. And then I found a way." Splinter told them of the book her found. "First, I would teach myself the ancient art of Ninjutsu. The brother followed my lead, accelerating at a wondrous rate! And when Gwen joined out family she too had an astounding gift for the art. Their gift was also their passion. They lived, breathed and dreamed all things martial arts." Splinter recalled the gifting of their weapons and bandannas. "Then, they were ready. Everything they are, everything we gained, and everything that they've become was made possible by the bravery that you displayed on that fateful night."

"April for the save." Jenny grinned at her.

"I was just a little girl." April said as everyone starred at her, the brothers and Gwen stood back to their feet.

"And you gave us freedom where others would have kept us in cages." Splinter countered.

"Wait a minute, Dad." Leo kneeled back down. "All these years you told us we were rescued from the fire by a great guardian spirit, the Hogo-sha."

"That's right." He gestured to April. "And this is the Hogo-sha."

"What?" April breathed out as Donnie used his goggles to get a read on her, the others looking between splinter and April before hesitantly bowing to her.

"My girlfriend's totally best friends with the Hogo-sha." Mikey bragged before Leo hit him. "Ow."

"Why did you bring us here?" Jenny asked as she took a seat next to April.

"To find out who you told of our existence." Splinter said.

"Nobody that believed me," April lamented.

"Except for Eric Sacks." Jenny pointed out.

"Sacks. Just as I feared." Splinter stood to his feet. "Sacks is not a friend."

"Called it." Jenny said and April popped her on her arm. "Ow."

"His soul has been poisoned by the influence of a dark master. The Shredder." Splinter practicaly snarled before he went on. "Shredder practically raised Sacks in Japan. He's like a father to him. Sacks will do anything for his master."

"Wait, wait. Sacks and Shredder? So, why aren't we out there hunting them down?" Raph growled.

"Because, Raphael, The Shredder is a skilled warrior whose cruelty is ever-reaching!" Splinter replied. "And you are just teenagers. The mutagen in your blood is of great value to them." April started to dig through her jacket pulling out a card. "Now that Sacks has confirmation that you are alive, I fear they will bring the fight to us."

"Oh, no." April starred down at the card.

"What?" Jenny came over to her, April looked up at her fearfully and eyes full of guilt. Suddenly alarms and buzzers went of spurring the turtles, Gwen, and Splinter into action, all of them gathering around the monitors showing the enemy pouring in from all sides.

"Perimeter infringe. Breached! We have incoming!" Donnie called out. "Oh, no! Oh, no! We got two breaches. Fan room, weapons wall!"

"Mikey, flank right!" Leo ordered. "Donnie, on me! Gwen, stay with April and Jenny. We gotta go! Go, go!"

They all ran for the weapons room, but Splinter heard the beeping of a bomb counting down.

"No! Get back!" He called out, but it was too late. The force of the blast blew them all back, rubble falling from the ceiling all around them in huge chunks. Men in black tactical gear carrying tranqs poured into the room. Splinter wasted no time in engaging them in battle, his moves proving him the master that he was.

"There they are! Neutralize them!" One of the men called out as they crawled out of the rubble, the men pointing their guns at Donnie and Leo.

"They've got tranq darts!" Donnie noted.

"Well, don't let them hit your skin." Leo replied right before the men opened fire on them. The darts bouncing off of their shells as they evaded the shots. As soon as the men were close enough Donnie and Leo attacked beating them back.

"Stay here." Gwen ordered April and Jenny before she drew her chains and ran into the fray.

Using her chains to deflect the tranqs as she made her way over to Leo and Donnie. One of the men leveled his gun straight at Leo who had no time to cover, but her chain wrapped around the gun pulling it back sharply into the man's face knocking him back.

"I told you to stay with the girls." Leo said as they started to fight side by side.

"Or you should just say thank you." Gwen sent out her chain, the weight at the end hitting a man in the throat. "Plus they're after you guys, not them."

"Just stay close." Leo ordered as he blocked another round of shots with his shell.

"Anything you say Fearless." Gwen winked up at him. More men closed in on Donnie's monitor room where Mikey popped up easily deflecting their attacks with his nun chucks.

"April stay out of the way." Jenny said as she made to move forward, but April grabbed her wrist.

"Are you crazy? They have guns!" April called out.

"They are severely outnumbered and need help." Jenny pulled her arm from Aprils. "They didn't ask for any of this to happen, we need to fix this."

Jenny ran at the nearest man as fast as she could leaping into the air using her legs to wrap around his neck and in an impressive move brought him down. She wrapped her legs around his neck and swung her body so she flipped him over then landed a devastating hit to his sternum.

"Wassup, bra? Oh, you think you can handle this, huh?" Mikey taunted them. "I'm a snapping turtle, fool." Mikey ran at them performing a spinning split kick knocking out a group of men. "Snap, snap, snap!" Then he promptly fell on his back next to Jenny, jumping up quickly with a blush. "I meant to do that! I meant to do it!"

"Look out." Jenny grabbed him pulling him around so his shell took the tranq hits then proceeded use her momentum to land a flying kick. She was flanked by two other men who opened fire on her, but her Capoeria skills helped her avoid the shots so they ended up shooting each other instead.

"Whoah." Mikey breathed out. Jenny smirked over at him with a wink, but there were too many men to linger for long, forcing them back into the fight.

"We got a breach in the fan room!" Donnie called out.

"Raph! Get to the fan room!" Leo ordered.

"Why are you always telling me what to do?" Raph threw a punch over Leo's head hitting a man that was coming up behind him.

"Just go Raph, we have bigger problems than this right now." Gwen snapped whipping her chain around as she flipped forcing the men back giving Raph time to get to the fan room.

"Mikey, you gotta get April and Jenny out of here, now!" Leo called out.

"I got this!" Mikey grabbed his high-tech skate board taking off grabbing up Jenny as he went.

"Wait, I can help." Jenny called out.

"No doubt angel cakes, your moves are hot, but we need to keep you and April safe." Mikey replied as he shot over to April. "April, you and Jenny come with me. I got a safe place for you both to hide. And if you get thirsty, I got a secret stash of Orange Crush behind the fridge. Don't tell Raph."

He pushed April behind some crates, but when he went to do the same with Jenny she had already rejoined the fight. He quickly ran over to her helping her against the men. She rolled on the ground grabbing up a pair of Escrema sticks and using them to block a fist flying for her face then proceeded to break said arm. She then spun around striking his head hard making it snap to the side as he fell to the ground.

"See, just fine." Jenny grinned at Mikey who smiled back. While they all fought a figure came in through the hole caused by the explosion a monster of a man in modern armor stepped through the rubble bearing down on Splinter.

"Shredder." Splinter bit out.

"All these years I've been trying to recreate the mutagen." Shredder growled, his voice distorted through the armor. "And you? You just handed it to me."

"You will not lay a hand on my children." Splinter countered as he took off his sandals and picked up a katana.

"Your children? You think you're their father?" Shredder scoffed as he drew his own blades, a whole armory of them coming out from his suit.

Shredder charged at Splinter who easily countered his attack, not eave looking at him as he used his one blade against Shredders many.

"Very good, rat!" Shredder patronized before they began their fight again at a faster pace.

Shredder started to fire his blades at Splinter who avoided them with grace before returning the attack. When the monster ran out of blades the gauntlets on his wrists lit up as he called the blades back to himself, Splinter twisting through the air to avoid them. Splinter dove at Shredder managing to wrap its tail around him locking blades with him, the two struggling, but Shredder got the upper hand slamming Splinter down on the ground hard.

"Sensei!" Leo ran for his father, but was blocked by the men with electric prods forcing him to stay back to the ground as they stabbed. "Donnie!"

"Hang on, Leo! Be right there!" Donnie called out as he held off his attackers, twirling his staff expertly blocking every tranq. April saw that Shredder was bearing down on Splinter about to strike a fatal blow. Grabbing one of Raph's sais she ran up behind Shredder slamming it in the back causing some sparks to fly.

"You stupid little girl!" Shredder whirled around on her.

"April!" Splinter grabbed her with his tail and whipped her away, throwing her across the room away from Shredder. Jenny glanced over seeing one of the men about to attack April and ran for her bringing both sticks down on the man's shoulders forcing him down.

"April! Are you ok?" Jenny demanded.

"I'm fine." April gasped out.

"Come on, you need to get out of the way." Jenny hoisted her up pulling her away from the fight.

"Get away from him!" Gwen threw out her chain wrapping it around one of the men and pulling back hard causing him to fall forward making the electric prods touch shocking the men back away from Leo. She quickly ran over to him struggling to help him to his feet, both of them looking up in time to see Shredder beating Splinter down.

"Sensei!" Leo yelled as he and Gwen ran for him.

"No, my children, stay back!" Splinter ordered, pulling a lever that caused a gate to come down separating them from Shredder. Leo tried to cut through the grate while Gwen reached through the grate trying to reach the lever, her fingers just brushing it.

"Dad!" Gwen screamed.

"What's going on?" Jenny looked over as the gate came down.

"Sensei!" Mikey screamed running for the gate. Donnie was also running over to them and was beating against the gate, desperate to get through.

"Sensei! Dad!" Leo called out as Splinter struggled over to them. "Dad! What are you...What are you doing?"

"Hide!" Splinter struggled.

"No!" Gwen cried, gripping his hand. "Dad…"

"Save yourselves!" Splinter was ripped away from her and was once again thrown to the ground.

Together they took hold of the grate and started to pull it up with all their strength, slowly the gate moving up. Shredder mercilessly beat Splinter down, his attack never letting up as he continued his attack.

As soon as the gate was up far enough Gwen ducked through running as fast as she could despite the others calling out to her. She sent out her chain wrapping it around Shredders neck and pulling him back away from Splinter. Stepping on it she was able to force him down to the around with a feral scream.

"Stay away from my dad!" Gwen shouted, pulling as tightly as she could.

"Gwen, no!" Splinter tried, but it was too late.

Shredder reached up grabbing the chain and pulling it hard swinging Gwen around and into a pillar, the impact forcing the air from her lungs as she thudded to the ground. Shredder stood to his feet ripping the chain from his neck throwing it to the ground as he advanced on her just as Donnie used his staff to get the gate up the rest of the way.

"Children, drop your weapons…" Shredder picked up Splinter, holding his blades to his neck. Men came in standing between Shredder and the turtles, one of them grabbing up Gwen holding a gun to her head. "..or your father and sister will die."

Slowly they all did as they were told, dropping their weapons to the ground with a loud clang. Shredder then slammed his fist into Splinters gut hard throwing him to the side like he was nothing.

"No!" The boys screamed as they were electrocuted, forced down to the ground before they were bound then forced out of their home.

"Where's the fourth?" Shredder demanded.

"He's dead." One of the thugs answered.

"What of the girl?" The man gestured to Gwen.

"Bring her, she will make good incentive to keep the freaks in line." Shredder told them.

"Yes sir." The man nodded, motioning for them to bring Gwen.

"Destroy this place." Shredder ordered and soon after they were gone the lair was blown up. Jenny and April barely escaped getting hit by the destruction as they ran after Shredder.

"Keep moving!" One of the men yelled as they used the prods to herd the boys into the back of a truck along with Gwen.

"Stay strong." Leo called out using his body to keep the probes from Gwen. "Remember, pain's only in the mind."

"What are we going to do?" Jenny breathed out, her teeth grit in anger.

"Move along! Go! Troop, go! Move! Move!" The trucks moved out as soon as everyone was loaded into the back. April grabbed Jenny's hand and pulled her back to the lair carefully moving over the rubble to where Splinter lay.

"Splinter." April called out as they gently made their way over to him, moving away what rubble they could.

"It's going to be ok, we'll get you out of here." Jenny and April pulled a large chunk of concrete back, grunting with effort. April looked up, Jenny followed her line of sight, to see Raph come into the room, his eyes shooting open in horror.

"Sensei." Raph rushed over to them easily moving aside the rubble. "Master."

"Let's get him to the needle room." Raph gently picked Splinter up.

"Where the first aid kit?" Jenny asked.

"Over there, third shelf." Raph nodded with his head and Jenny quickly grabbed it bringing it into the needle room. Raph set down Splinter on a wooden slat with Aprils help. "Hurry. Hurry."

"Got it." Jenny ran over to them and started to unpack it using it to tend to Splinters wounds.

"Raphael?" Splinter gasped out.

"I'm here." Raphael assured him.

"You must save your brothers and sister." Splinter told him. "Stop Shredder."

"Sensei." Raph said softly. Jenny grabbed a pillow placing it under Splinters head as he laid back. Suddenly some alarms went off in Donatello's wrecked station, April running over to see what it was.

"Ok, you've got quite a few broken bones…I think…I have no idea what to do…" Jenny did her best to patch him up, concentrating on the bleeding wounds. "Just don't move so you don't puncture something."

"It's some kind of tracker." April called out as she moved some cords out of the way so she could see a monitor.

"It's Donatello!" Raph said.

"Go, Raphael." Splinter told him, Raph's face becoming grim.

"Let's go save my brothers and sister." Raph stood tall, grabbing up his siblings weapons.

"We need a ride." April announced and Raph pointed out the payphone they used. April dialed and waited anxiously for it to be picked up on the other end of the line.

"O'Neil!" Vern said over the phone in a creepy voice.

"Look, Vern, I need you to meet me at Cortlandt Alley in 10 minutes, please." April told him.

"Wait, why?" Vern asked.

"I can't talk to you about it on the phone." April replied. "Just promise you're gonna be there."

"What do you mean, you can't talk about... You called...me." Vern said in confusion, but she had already hung up.

"I got us a ride." April announced as she came back over to them.

"You'll be ok, just lay still." Jenny had managed to find a blanket for Splinter along with some water bottles that she left next to him along with the first aid kit.

"Thank you." Splinter breathed out, Jenny nodding in return. She made sure he was comfortable before coming over to the others picking up the escrima sticks as she went.

"We need to go now." April announced and Raph led the way to the surface.


	6. Chapter 6

After making sure that Splinter was as comfortable as possible Raph, April, and Jenny made their way up out of the sewers. April and Jenny went ahead to make sure the coast was clear, Raph following just out of sight. They spotted Vern parked in the alley with a fedora on his head checking out his reflection in the side view mirror of the van.

"What's with the hat?" April asked as she walked past him to the other side of the van, Jenny opening the back and quickly getting Raph in, jumping in behind him.

"What is with the ha...I don't know." Vern said nervously as he threw it into the van. "It's a buddy's of mine. Its just a goof." April got into he van with Vern. "So what did you want to do? You want to head down town?"

"Ero Sacks is working with the head of the Foot Clan. They just kidnapped the vigilante turtles to take them to the Sacks Estate." April explained and Vern let out a long suffering sigh.

"We need to go! Come on Vern!" Jenny popped up between the seats startling Vern.

"When...where...why are you here?" Vern yelped.

"Ouch Vern, good to see you to." Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Vern, they're in trouble, come on!" April snapped.

"Right, right, right. The turtles. I forgot...you know this is getting embarrassing O'Neil and now you're dragging little Jenny into it." Vern sighed as Jenny shot him a dark look for calling her little. "We're both consenting adults, we're both very good looking. You're better, probably. That's up for debate. But the point is, we don't need to make up excuses to hang out with each other."

"What?" April said in exasperation as Jenny shook her head.

"You want to spend more time with me. I get it. I would too." Vern went on.

"Vern, stop being an ego-perv." Jenny snapped. "We need to get to the Sacks estate right now. Come on!"

"That's what I'm talking about, O'Neil. You didn't need to bring in Jenny to help you, I get it." Vern went on. "The Sacks estate with the vigilante..." Jenny moved to the side and motioned Raph up. The red banned turtle shot up between the seats causing Vern to jump back in his seat wide eyed. "What..."

"Drive!" Raph ordered.

"You're a talking turtle." Vern gasped out.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm a talking turtle and you're a human nerd." Raph snarled. "Now that we got that out of the way, hit it."

"I've never been accused of being a nerd before, but..." Vern grasped. "I'm sorry...How did you get in...How did he get in the..."

"Just drive nerd!" Jenny called up from the back. Grumbling under his breath Vern started the van and they got going.

-0-

Gwen could only watch as her family was forced into the clear cages, strapped down, and hooked up. The ones doing this were none to gentle about it either, seeming to take pleasure in causing them pain. Gwen herself was roughed up and tied up to one of the pillars with Karai standing guard over her making sure she didn't try anything.

"Oh, my. Wow." Sacks said as he came into the lab, looking up at the turtles greedily. "Unbelievable. Let me look at you. I'm a hard guy to impress, but...This is just..." He shook his head with a large smile. "Oh, my God. Wow! And we were gonna use rabbits!" He commented, casting a glance to Gwen. "Can you imagine that?" Gwen glared up at him. "All we were trying to do is create an antidote."

"For what?" Leo growled

"Say that again. I want to hear your voice." Sacks paced up to him.

"For what?" Leo demanded.

"Wow." Sacks breathed out. "Well, uh, we had this plan. A plan that we're ready to put back online today. I'll show you. Karai, um...Show them."

Karai nodded speaking Japanese to two of the guards who grabbed a third, holding him tight as he struggled against them. She brought over two tanks hooked up to an oxygen mask and taking the mask then turning on the canister she slapped it over the man's face forcing him to breath in.

"Do you know my building, Sacks Tower? Got that great big spire up on top? That spire is filled...with tons of chemical toxins." Sacks spoke as the man tried to get away, but it was to late, the chemicals were taking their affect. "Bad stuff. That kinda bad." He said as the man fell to the ground writhing in agony. "In a few hours, Shredder is going to unleash all that stuff over the whole city." Sore appeared on the man's skin. "The initial death toll will shake world governments to their core." Steam curled up from his body as his fever skyrocketed. "In 30 days, the city of New York will be a quarantine zone." The sores turned black and the man's seizures grew. "And that is where my company comes in. I'm going to save everyone with the antidote that is made from the mutagen that is oozing through your blood." The man went still, he was dead. "The government will then send Sacks Industry a blank check and I'm going to be rich. Like, stupid rich. Shredder will force this city to live under our rule. We will be gods."

"It won't work, not for you anyway." Gwen commented.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sacks walked over to her leaning in close as he braced his arm against the pillar she was tied to.

"I've only met Shredder once, but he doesn't seem like the sharing type to me." Gwen snickered then looked up meeting his gaze. "If I were you I'd keep an eye on him…" Then she nodded to Karai. "…and his girlfriend there."

Sacks's eyes narrowed at her and was about to speak when the alarms started to go off with bright red lights flashing. Casting one last glance at Gwen he moved away back into the lab.

"I'll take this canister to New York to withdraw the mutagen." Sacks grabbed a canister. "Make sure that you drain all their blood."

"What about the girl?" One of the men asked and Sacks considered her for a moment.

"As soon as they're dead, kill her." Sacks grinned turning on his heel and making for the exit. "Time to take a bite out of the Big Apple."

-0-

Jenny felt like bashing her head against the side of the van as Vern tried to redeem himself. He was currently talking about his physical accomplishments, if you could call them that.

"Yeah, I've thought about...I've thought about doing, not becoming a ninja, but I was doing a bunch of yoga for like, 10 days at one point, and, uh, I pulled a hamstring." Vern went on.

"There's the gate right there. There it is." April said as they came up to the snow bound mansion.

"They're not exactly going to just let us come in you know." Jenny pointed out.

"Ram the gate." Raph ordered.

"Ram the gate?" Vern repeated. "This is Channel 6 property."

"I said ram the gate!" Raph snapped at him.

"I'd do what he says Vern, unless you want to break out some of those ten day yoga moves of yours." Jenny pointed out.

"All right, everybody, strap in!" Vern pressed down on the pedal and rammed into the gate with a resounding crash.

Vern made a sharp turn to avoid some cars and now had foot soldier straight ahead opening fire on them. Vern kept the pedal down as they ducked and rammed into the soldiers as well as the doors. Vern started to back up, but they were surrounded by foot who opened fire on them and there was no way out. Raph tore through the side of the van and rushed the guard taking him out then moved back to the van opening the door.

"Follow me!" He ordered and the three humans rushed out of the van running after him.

Raph ran into the room where Don, Leo, and Mikey were being held in large glass cases and Gwen was still tied up on the ground. Raph wasted no time in rushing up to Gwen cutting her loose and helping her over to where Leo was being held as he passed her her chains back.

"They're draining their blood, we need to get them out." Gwen told Raph.

"Leo!" Raph panicked.

"About time." Leo joked weakly. Raph attacked the glass box, but it only wobbled slightly giving no sign of breaking.

"There's got to be a lock or something." Jenny was about to run over to the controls when they all heard an ominous clanking coming from the right side of the room.

"What the..." Raph breathed out.

"Raphael." Shredder came into the light. "Glad you could join us. The fourth cage is for you."Shredder charged them, Raph quickly pushing Gwen out of the way. Shredder grabbed Raph by the throat throwing him towards the ceiling and letting him fall back to the ground with a resounding thud.

"That's harsh, man." Mikey mumbled.

"Get away from my brother!" Gwen charged as she whipped her chain around only for Shredder to grab it and use it to swing her around sending her sliding across the ground. Raph was up on his feet again throwing punches that Shredder was dodging easily.

"The rat did not teach you well!" Shredder scoffed as he punched Raph across the face then kicked him across the room over to Gwen.

"Raphael!" April called out.

"You." Shredder looked at her, taking a threatening step towards the would be reporter, but a well aimed Escrema stick to his head caused him to stagger slightly, more from surprise than impact. His head snapped to the side where Jenny stood on the upper floor, throwing the other stick only for him to bat it away. "That will cost you girl."

"Please, keep talking. I only yawn when I'm super fascinated." Jenny put up a brave front as he started toward her.

"Focus on me." Raph charged the robot man again.

"Three... Four total turtles. One's fighting a robot samurai. Why not?" Vern muttered as Gwen ran over to where Donnie was being held, Jenny and April right behind her.

"Donnie! Donnie!" Gwen beat on the glass, trying to get him to stay awake. "What do I do?"

"Adrenaline." He gasped out.

"What?" April leaned in.

"Adrenaline." He repeated a little louder.

"Adrenaline." Jenny said as she and the girls rushed over to the consoles. They peered at the screens showing the vitals of each of the turtles.

"All right. All right." April mumbled to herself before she spotted a button that said 'Adrenaline Injected.' "Adrenaline."

There was a series of thuds and a loud crack. Looking over they saw Shredder pressing his foot down on Raph.

"He's going to kill him." Vern said as April turned the adrenaline all the way up and pressed the button sending it into the turtles.

"No!" Gwen ran, using her chain to swing down to where Raph was and kicking Shredder off of him from behind. Taking a stance in front of Raph she moved as rapidly as she could, fending off Shredder and trying to keep him off balance, but once again it was not enough as he gripped her chain pulling him into his grasp. He had his hand around her throat lifting her into the air.

"You fight for these...freaks." Shredder snarled.

"I fight...for my...family. Something you...wouldn't...understand." Gwen swung her legs up shoving her feet into his chin forcing him to drop her. She landed on the ground coughing and shuffling back toward Raph who was struggling to get back up. Shredder growled advancing on them as he drew his blades.

"Get up!" April screamed.

"He's going to kill Raph and Gwen!" Jenny called out, then it happened. Suddenly their heads shot up, their breathing became rapid, and their pupils dilated.

"It's working." Vern said as they started to break the straps holding them.

"I think we should move." April backed up with Jenny just as the turtles burst through the cages. They were forced to duck down as glass rained down on them, the three turtles running around on their adrenaline high.

"Oh! I feel really good right now! I feel like running!" Mikey ran around in rapid circles.

"I feel like cleaning! Who wants to clean the dojo? I'll clean the dojo!" Leo spoke rapidly.

"Endorphins! Endorphins!" Donnie kept saying, seeing them all free Shredder beat a hasty retreat.

"We got to get Raph and Gwen!"

"Raph! Gwen! Raph! Gwen!"

They all ran for Raph and Gwen jumping down from the second floor rushing over to them.

"Are you okay? Are you dead? Are you okay?"

"We're ok." Gwen called out over them as she and Raph got up with the others help. Suddenly she was scooped up off the ground and wrapped up in Leo's arms as he spun her around.

"Are you ok? Did he hurt you? You have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen!" Leo said rapidly as Vern, April, and Jenny ran up to them, Jenny grabbing up the Escrima sticks.

"Come on. Come on."

"We really gotta go!"

"Go where?" Raph asked.

"Sacks Tower!" Leo replied still holding Gwen in his arms bridal style.

"New York City! Times Square!" Mikey added

"Shredder's going to release a toxin!" Donnie informed them.

"It's gonna poison the whole city!" Gwen told them.

"And Sacks is gonna sell the antidote!" Leo said.

"Made from the mutagen that's in our blood!" Mikey twirled around.

"So we've got to get going now!"

"Good. Let's do it for sensei." Raph said as they all ran for the exit, the others following.

"Okay." Jenny cheered as they all still ran around on their energy high, Mikey grabbing her by her hand and pulling her along.

"Everybody calm down! Look how calm I am!" Mikey nearly screamed as they came up to the exit where a helicopter took off into the air above them.

"We got to move. Let's go!"

"Sacks is airborne!"

"Flight time to Manhattan, 19 minutes!" Donnie told them.

"Get us out of here, Donnie!" Leo ordered as Donnie scanned the area, seeing an eighteen wheeler nearby then he spotted the foot soldiers armed to the teeth.

"Oh, my gosh, they have guns!" Donnie yelped gaining their attention and their bullets.

"Get down!" Leo held Gwen close while Mikey pulled Jenny into his arms while Raph and Donnie covered Vern and April, the turtles turning their shells on the gunfire and the bullets bouncing off of them.

"Ha! Are you guys okay?" Leo asked.

"We're bulletproof." Raph grinned.

"Sweet!" Leo nodded.

"Advance and engage!" One of the foot ordered.

"Can you drive that truck?" Leo pointed at Vern.

"Yeah!" Vern nodded seeing the foot come closer.

"We're on Raph. Ready?" Leo looked to his brothers, all of them nodding. "Gwen, get them to the truck."

"Right." Gwen nodded pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before going after the others.

"Aw, i want one to." Mikey pouted, but a quick kiss on the cheek from Jenny before she ran off after the others had him grinning like a fool.

"Come on!" Gwen yelled leading them through the frey toward the truck. The turtles took out any foot who came near them with practiced skill giving the others time to get to safety. Once April, Jenny, and Vern were in the front cab Gwen ran to the back wrenching the doors open. "Everybody in the truck!"

"We gotta go, go, go! Move!" Leo ordered everyone to the truck, Mikey climbing on top of the trailer.

"Vern, you know how to drive this, right?" April asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just got to hot wire this thing, I guess." Vern said like it was no big deal even though he clearly had no idea what to do. "Classic blue wire/red wire situation."

"Really Vern?!" Jenny reached up pulling down the visor and catching the keys, dangling them in front of Vern. "Keys!"

"Yeah. Keys are better." Vern nodded turning on the truck.

"Drive!" Raph pounded on the back of the cab.

"I'm on it!" Vern snapped.

"Come on! Come on!" Raph urged.

"That's all I need is a backseat-driving talking turtle!" Vern grumbled as he took off crashing through yet another pair of gates. "I shouldn't have doubted you. Sorry I didn't stick up for you. I can't believe that you're not crazy! How crazy is that?"

"Where are we going, guys?" Mikey asked as he leaned over the edge to look into the back of the truck.

"Donnie, what's the fastest way back to Manhattan?" Leo looked to the brains of the group.

"We just need to stay on this road. If we can get to the maintenance hatch at the bottom of the hill, there's a sewer line 2.4 miles from here." Donnie told them as he brought up the information on a holographic screen.

"Mikey! Let them know up there!" Gwen called out.

"I'm on it!" Mikey got up moving forward only to spot a car cut them off and a man hang out the window with a rocket launcher. "Oh, no."

"Vern! Look out!" Jenny screamed as she grabbed the wheel jerking it to the side so the rocket skimmed them.

Unfortunately the explosion caused the trailer to rock violently along with their sudden sharp turn. Mikey was thrown off the top of the trailer barely hanging on with his nun-chucks while on the inside Gwen had to move quickly to avoid being crushed. Some of the equipment came loose in the back and shifted, hitting Leo out of the trailer and into a tree. Finally the truck came to a stop on the edge of a steep incline, everyone breathing hard as they tried to get their baring's, but they didn't have time for that. They were surrounded once again, the men getting out with guns.

"Vern, go, go, go, go, go!" April called out.

"I'm on it!" Vern said, but instead of going forward they tilted back.

"Stop!" Jenny called out.

"Vern, hit the brakes!" April ordered

"Wrong way! Wrong way!" Vern chanted as the truck slid straight down the incline. Gwen held on to the edge of the trailer as it slid back, her eyes widening.

"Leo, move, move!" Gwen screamed.

"What?" Leo sat up glancing back then ducking out of the way of the trailer.

"Opposite, opposite, opposite!" Vern jerked the wheel around so that the truck was now facing forward as it sped down the hill.

"How far off course are we?" Raph asked Donnie as they held onto some of the materials that were strapped down in the trailer.

"Actually, we're on a bit of a shortcut." Donnie looked at his watch. "But we need to keep going down. Straight down."

"Mikey! Tell them to keep going straight down!" Gwen called out.

"Ok." Mikey said as he made his way back up to the front. He leaned over the front window holding on for dear life.

"Hey! Just keep going straight!" Mikey managed to get out before hoisting himself up just too pop back down over on Jenny and Aprils side. "What's up, angel cakes?"

"Oh, you know, just hanging out." Jenny called out as she and April clung to each other. "What's up with you?"

"Nothin' much, just being awesome." Mikey winked at her before going back topside where he spotted Leo sliding down the hill on his shell with three large trucks behind them. One of the shot out an electrically charged grappling hook that stuck painfully to Leo. "Guys, Leo's in trouble!"

"My shell's cracked. Just tape it up." Raph ordered.

"Allow me to be the bad-ass for once." Donnie said pressing a roll of tape into Gwen's hands.

"Go get them Don." Gwen patted him on the arm getting a nervous smile from him before he leapt out of the trailer sliding along next to Leo.

"Hang on, Leo. Disengaging." Donnie pulled the rope from Leo allowing it to snap back into the man who shot it. Another truck rushed Donnie ramming him with its grill pushing him harder down the hill.

"I've always wanted to try this." Donnie said pulling out his bo pressing it against the car and allowing it to catch on a rock propelling the truck into the air over him. It his down hard almost hitting the other trucks and rolling down the hill. "I got you, brother." Donnie slid up to Leo taking hold of him. "One car down, two to go." Another charged rope shot out and attached itself to Donnie. "Mikey!"

"All right, that's it. I'll take it from here!" Mikey called out as he grabbed his board and took off. "Whoo-hoo!" He flew through the air hitting a man off the back of a truck and then punching his hand through the top of the car grabbing the wheel. "Gwen, Raph, I'm driving! Yeah!"

"You're good to go." Gwen patted Raph on the back, his shell wrapped up tight in duct tape.

"Thanks sis." Raph ran out the back of the trailer leaping into the air and landing right in the back of one of the trucks taking the men out. "Whoo-hoo!"

"Where are you going?!" Jenny yelped as April leaned out the window to get a picture with her phone. "REALLY?!"

"O'Neil, what are you doing?" Vern glanced over and zeroed in on April's butt. "Yeah, that's good. Make sure you're getting everything."

"Stop perving on my friend you…" Jenny whirled around, but saw the snow bank coming at them. "VERN YOU IDIOT!" They hit the snowbank hard jolting the whole truck and throwing April out of the cab. "APRIL!"

"JENNY!" April screamed as she held onto the bar next to the door.

"April! Give me your arm!" Jenny reached out the window. "Vern, grab the back of my jacket and nothing else!" Jenny and April grabbed hold of each other and with Vern pulling on the back of Jenny's jacket they managed to get the reporter back into the cab. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I think so." April still held onto Jenny.

"Avalanche!" Mikey called out from where he stood on top of the car with Raph clinging to the side as the raced down the hill all around them. It jolted them back and forth before finally launching them from the car.

"Come on, Leo, wake up!" Donnie called out as they all continued their slide down.

"Yeah! If you wake up, I promise to do anything you say!" Mikey said as the trailer of the truck started to swing back and forth over them.

"Guys! Shredder's chopper is 20 miles outside of New York City airspace!" Donnie told them.

"Thanks for the traffic update, Donnie." Raph snapped. "You doing sports and weather next?"

"If you're gonna be nasty about it then I guess you don't want to know that there's a 500-foot drop-off in 53 seconds!" Donnie snarked.

"Are you saying there's..." Raph trialed off.

"A cliff!" Leo woke up suddenly.

"We gotta get April, Jenny, and Gwen out of there!" Leo said as he slid over to Raph. "Raph, heads up!"

"Don't forget that old guy!" Mikey called out as Raph pushed Leo up on top of the trailer.

"Raph, get Gwen!" Leo ordered.

"On it." Raph slid around to the back of the trailer. "Gwen, you need to jump!"

"Ok, but if you drop me I will haunt your kitchen cabinets till the day you die!" Gwen yelled psyching herself up before taking a running leap out of the back of the trailer and landing right into his arms.

"Got you." Raph held onto her.

"Where's Leo?" Gwen asked.

"Getting the others." Raph replied as Leo ran across the top of the trailed and swinging down to the side of the cab.

"Hi. Change of plans." Leo opened the door just in time to spot the last truck on the other side of the eighteen wheeler. "Oh, come on."

"Guys, get down! Get down!" Jenny yelled as it shot out another electric rope that his Leo in the chest and deliver a bit of discharge into April knocking her loopy.

"Twelve seconds and we're going over!" Donnie yelled.

"Hey, Donnie, do that fancy slingshot thing!" Raph yelled. "Gwen, go with Donnie." Gwen nodded and made ready for the jump as Donnie drew his bo. "We got to take Little Miss Sunshine out!"

"Batter up!" Donnie said and with that Gwen leaped into the air while Raph grabbed onto the bo allowing Donnie to sing him around into the truck then as Gwen came down Donnie caught her. Raph slammed into the side of the truck shell first smashing it apart and forcing it to roll down the hill.

"Grab on." Leo came into the cab grabbing hold of the humans allowing the cord still attached to the car to pull them out. "Mikey! Grab the cable!"

"I got it! I got it!" Mikey quickly grabbed up the cable which pulled him along as well. "Hold on! Hold on!" He was managing to hold on until he hit a rock outcropping that caused him to let go. "Oh, no! No, no, no! Oh, no..." He yelled as he slid slowly to a stop. "Poor Jenny, Leo, April... And that other guy. They were so young, she was so beautiful."

"They ain't dead, numb nuts." Raph said as he slid up.

"Oh. Right on." Mikey shot up to his feet as they ran over to the cliff side.

"I hope you got a parachute under that shell." Vern said as they all held onto Leo who was holding onto the wire.

"Hey, guys! It's the maintenance hatch! Our ticket home!" Donnie said as he spotted the hatch directly below them.

"That's great, but I'd rather take another way down, you know, one that doesn't involve the word splat." Jenny called up to them.

"A little help, please!" Leo agreed and reached down Raph managed to pulled them up.

"Are you all ok?" Gwen raced up to them, but mainly seemed to fuss over Leo.

"We're fine, nothing we can't handle." Leo wrapped his arm around her holding her close pressing a kiss to the top of her head much to the surprise of Vern, April, and Jenny.

"Huh." Jenny looked thoughtfully at the couple and glancing at Mikey out of the corner of her eye.

"Guys, we gotta hustle. Shredder's over New York City!" Donnie told them once they were all safely on the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

They slid along the sewer system, Leo with Gwen, Raph with Vern, Mikey with Jenny, and Donnie with April. It was like a super vast tube slid at a water park and would have been a lot more fun if it wasn't for the dire circumstances they were facing.

"Please keep your arms and legs inside the shell at all times." Mikey joked as he tightened his hold on Jenny.

"We need to do this again when its not a life or death situation." Jenny called out with a laugh.

"Totally Bubblegum." Mikey replied then wiggles his brow ridges. "Be an awesome first date."

"Satellite imagery shows Shredder's reached the top of Sacks Tower." Donnie called out.

"If that's where he's releasing the toxin from..." Leo trailed off looking down at Gwen.

"Then it's gonna spread all over the city!" She finished his thought.

"We need to...break a left!" They continued through the sewer systems sliding through a broken off line into another until they finally came to the end. Raph kicked open a vent allowing them access into the building.

"All right, listen up. We gotta find the elevators and get up to the roof." Leo ordered. "Gwen will get you guys out of here. Get to a safe distance."

"What?!" Gwen snapped. "I'm not leaving you all to fight that thing on your own!"

"We can go find Sacks and get our hands on the mutagen as a contingency plan, just in case... You know." April trailed off.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Raph deadpanned.

"If we don't make it back, bring the mutagen to Splinter. It can save his life." Leo relented.

"Sacks's laboratory's on the 36th floor. I've already disabled the security system." Donnie said. "Oh, and, uh...Good luck!"

"Gwen go with them, keep them safe." Leo pulled Gwen to the side, his order making Gwen frown. "Please Gwen."

"Fine, but the moment they're safe I'm coming for you." Gwen reached up cupping his face.

"I know." Leo took her hand in his pressing a kiss to the palm of her hand. "Be safe."

"Just as safe as you better be." Gwen reached up on her toes pressing a firm kiss to his lips. It was when they parted that they noticed the silence and glancing over saw everyone starring at them.

"Called it." Raph spoke up. "You two owe me chores for a week."

"Oh man, you two couldn't have held on for one more week." Mikey whined.

"Don't look so shocked, it was painfully obvious." Donnie shrugged. "I'm just glad master Splinter didn't win."

"Well…" Leo cleared his throat, his face red as Gwen laughed. "We better get going."

"If I don't return, remember me, Jenny. You can always find me in here." Mikey pointed to Jenny's heart before Raph grabbed him hauling him away after the others. "Hey! I want my romantic moment with my Bubblegum."

"You better make it back, we have a date Gummybear." Jenny called out after him making him let out a whoop.

"I've never been surrounded by so many complicated chicks." Vern muttered.

"It's just because you're an uncomplicated guy." Jenny shrugged.

"Come on guys, we need to get that mutagen." April said and with Gwen leading as they made their way through the building.

-0-

The girls with Vern made it into the halls leading up to the labs, but Sacks wasn't taking any chances. Peeking around the corner to the labs they saw that they were guarded by foot patrol forcing them to duck back before they were seen.

"Ok, I'll take care of these guys, when the coast is clear you three get into that lab and get the Mutagen." Gwen took out her chains.

"You can't take them all on your own." Jenny took out her escrema sticks. "April, Vern, get the ooze."

"Are you sure?" Gwen looked to Jenny who grinned back.

"Oh yeah." Jenny nodded. They rounded the corner together and the men were immediately alerted to their presence causing them to rush at the girls.

Jenny took the first man that came at them by sliding along the ground on her knees and taking out his knees with her escrema sticks then bringing them down on the back of his head. Gwen shot out her chain at the next man catching him around the throat and pulling him into her fist where a satisfying crunch was heard as he fell to the ground unconscious.

Jenny used a cart as a vault allowing her to flip up and bring both of her legs down on another foot soldiers shoulders making him fall like a ton of bricks. Another was charging right at her, but Gwen slid between his legs punching the man in the thigh hard causing him to go down on his knew. Jenny followed up by jumping over him and wrapping her legs around another man then using her momentum shoved him into the ground.

Two more raced at the girls and kicking low Jenny managed to get the legs out from under one of them while Gwen used the other man's knee to jump up and kick him in the face.

"Go now!" Gwen ordered once they had thinned out the herd. Vern and April ran out from their cover glancing wide eyed at the damage Jenny and Gwen had pulled off. There was a yell down the hall signaling that more were coming. "Ready for round two?"

"You know it." Jenny grinned as they met the soldier head on. They moved through them with varying degrees of success, but it was an uphill battle for them. Finally when it seemed the last of the guards had fallen at their hands they breathed a sigh of relief. "I think that's all of them."

"Yeah, I think so to." Gwen nodded before they raced toward the lab.

-0-

Vern and April had entered the lab spotting Sacks making the antidote. Red turtle blood was going in and green antidote was coming out. They moved silently around the corner, but were not as stealthy as they thought. Sacks shot at them as soon as they were around the corner forcing them down behind a counter.

"Seriously, you two... You're adorable, really. I could just pinch your cheeks!" Sacks said sarcastically, Vern peering over the edge of the table only to be forced back down when he was shot at again.

"I understand a girl with dead daddy issues. I do. But you're not gonna stop me. This is history repeating itself." Sacks went on. "Your father walked in on me, April, just like you did. It took a few less bullets to take him down, though."

"You killed my father." April breathed out, barely flinching when Sacks shot again. Vern glanced at her, looking pointedly at an abort button before moving around the corner. He crept toward where April was hiding seeing her in the reflection of a glass door and grinned as he got ready to take aim.

"O'Neil!" Vern called out holding up a microscope gaining Sacks attention, the crazed man whipping around with his gun raised firing. April took her chance to run to the abort button pressing it causing the extinguishers to go off over Sacks. Vern then brought the microscope down over Sacks head, but not before he got another shot off hitting Vern in the arm, both of them going down.

"What happened?!" Gwen asked as she and Jenny came into the lab.

"April!" Jenny called out.

"Vern's been shot." April said as she rushed over to where he was leaning up against some machine, his arm bleeding.

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked.

"I'm fine." Vern nodded. "Look, just go get some help and take the mutagen with you." Gwen glanced around spotting the mutagen and grabbed it handing it off to April. "Just go. Go!" The girls raced off with the canister. "Just another day in the life of a man of action." He tried to get up. "Ow. No, I'm not getting up."

The girls raced up to the top of the building the sound of twisting metal and falling the debris was all around them. As soon as they were at the top they were met with the truly horrible sight of the turtles holding up the spire as Shedder was repeatedly punching Leo in the side.

"Shredder!" April called out raising the canister over her head while Gwen and Jenny took up protective stances on either side of her. "This is all that's left!"

"Little girls." He growled. "That belongs to me."

"Then come and get it old man." Gwen snarled. He leapt over to them landing with a heavy thud, but their attention was taken by the falling spire. Using their distraction against them Shredded rushed them grabbing the canister from April at the same time knocking her from the roof. "April!"

Gwen jumped after her using her chain to grab April and pull her up to the falling spire, the two of them holding on as it fell. Unfortunately Shredder was also holding onto the falling spire and he was not big on sharing. Using his blade he threw it at them cutting Gwen's chain causing April to fall, but Jenny had jumped down on the spire grabbing the chain and Gwen hand managed to hold on to, but they were slipping fast.

"I…can't…" Jenny struggled.

"Gwen! April! Jenny!" The boys had rushed to the edge of the building then seeing the situation jumped down to the spire just as Shredder threw another blade barely skimming the top of Jenny's knuckles forcing her to let go of Gwen and April.

"No!" Jenny screamed. Raph jumped off the spire followed by Leo who grabbed his ankle, then Donnie grabbed Leo, and Mikey was the last holding them all up on the spire. Raph grabbed hold of Gwen and April.

"Hold on! Hold on! I got you." He reassured them as Shredder took out yet another blade firing it at Mikey, but Jenny used her other Escrema stick to flick it back hitting shredder in the shoulder.

"Swing us towards him!" April said seeing the canister on Shredder's hip.

"Are you serious?!" Jenny yelped.

"She's right, swing us." Gwen looked up to Leo.

"Do it!" Leo ordered. Raph nodded and started to swing them back and forth building up momentum, but Shredder pulled the blade free of his arm and threw it again, but once again Jenny was on it knocking the blade away once again back into his other shoulder.

"Yeah you keep throwing those because I don't think I could ever get tired of sticking them right back into you." Jenny yelled just as Gwen and April got close enough. Gwen swung up kicking him in the face while April grabbed the canister and he fell from the spiral straight down to the ground leaving behind an impressive crater.

"That's my girl." Mikey smiled as Jenny helped him and the others back up onto the spire which suddenly gave way and started to fall.

"I think this is it, guys!" Donnie called out.

"Does anyone have anything they want to say?" Leo asked they fell a little bit more, the girls getting into the interior of the spire for a better grip. "Donnie?"

"I'm the one who licks the icing off the Pop-Tarts every morning and puts them back in the box." Donnie admitted.

"I'm the one who accidentally put laundry soap in the dishwasher, I thought it was the same thing." Gwen yelled.

"I so did not understand the ending of Lost." Mikey screamed.

"I still like to watch Barbie movies when I'm feeling down." Jenny yelled.

"Raph?" Donnie called out.

"I just, uh...If this is our last moment together, I just want you guys to know I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was so hard on you. Every time I pushed you, I... I threatened you, I yelled at you, I pushed you beyond your limits, it was because I believe in you! I believe in each one of you! I believe in your spirit and your intelligence and your potential. And every time I talked about walking away, it was because I was scared! I just didn't think I was good enough to stand next to you and call you brothers and say to you I love you! I love you guys so much!" Raph broke down as he ranted so lost in his speech that he didn't realize that they had stopped falling.

"Raph?" Donnie called out. "We made it."

"Are you crying?" Mikey asked.

"No, ding-dong. It's just a little dusty out here." Raph said as they all took a moment, but people were starting to get close.

"We need to go guys." Gwen said as they quickly moved away from the debris.

"I'll stay here and take care of the press." April assured them.

"What are you going to tell them?" Leo asked.

"O'Neil!" Vern raced through the wreckage clutching his arm.

"We'll think of something." Arpil replied.

"There'll be no living with him after this." Jenny sighed. With that the turtles disappeared down the nearby manhole with Gwen leaving April and Jenny to spin a tail making Vern the hero of the story.

-0-

They all gathered around Splinter as Donnie administered the Mutagen. They all watched with bated breath, Gwen gripping Leo's hand tightly in hers.

"Okay, the mutagen is now entering his bloodstream." Donnie said as they all leaned in closer.

"Master Splinter?" Mikey said cautiously.

"Nothing's happening." Raph said when nothing happened.

"Why isn't it working yet?" Mikey asked.

"Just give it time." Gwen said reassuringly.

"Mikey..." Splinter breathed out. "Mikey, come closer."

Mikey leaned over splinter and listened as he whispered in his ear before straightening back up.

"What did he say? What did he say?" Leo asked quickly.

"He said, "Please get your knee off my chest." Mikey said then looking down quickly removed his knee from his sensei's chest.

"Sensei!" Leo smiled.

"You're alive!" Mikey cheered.

"It worked!" Raph said.

"I'm so glad." Gwen gently hugged Splinter being careful of his still healing wounds.

"I'm sorry. This was all my fault." Leo said solemnly.

"You were right. We weren't ready." Raph added.

"No. It was I who wasn't ready to let you go." Splinter gently corrected them. "All you needed was to discover that your true power lies in believing in one another."

They all looked at each other in realization and astonishment, Mikey mimicking an explosion with his hands around his head.

-0-

It was late at night when April and Jenny rode their bikes up under a deserted old overpass. Vernon was waiting for them leaning casually up against his new right, a sleek little black number that he was very proud of.

"There they are." Vern walked up to them. "New York's secret weapons."

"How's your arm, Vern?" April asked.

"Well, it wouldn't be much use in a fight. Not that I was much use before, but..." Vern shrugged.

"Did you get a new car?" Jenny asked leaning against the bars of her bike.

"Yeah." He got excited as he gestured to it. "You're looking at the new Fenwick Express. Pretty sweet, huh?" He grinned smugly. "Kind of an upgrade. I figured I'd need new wheels

after my old work vehicle went boom. Yeah, Channel 6 gave it to me." He mimicked an explosion with his hands. "They said don't put a scratch on it, but, like, lightning's going to strike twice?"

"Don't jinx yourself." Jenny cautioned.

"So, is that why you called me here, to talk about your new car?" April asked.

"I know that you're not exactly a fancy restaurant kind of girl, so I figured a creepy underpass in an abandoned neighborhood in the middle of the night was more your speed." Vern shrugged. "I wanted you to be comfortable."

"DJ Mikey in the house!" the voice of Mikey called out as a large tricked out trash truck came rolling up to them. The doors flung open revealing Gwen, Raph, and Mikey in the back while Leo and Donnie were in the front seats.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jenny asked.

"We figured we owed you a thanks for keeping our secret." Gwen smiled.

"You had a lot to gain from telling people about us, but you had our backs." Raph nodded.

"Yeah, 'cause that's what family's for, Raph." April told him.

"So you guys are driving now?" Vern asked.

"Yeah, man. I pimped this bad boy out." Donnie bragged. "Got a 42-inch plasma with the NBA package, shave ice machine, 7.1 digital surround sound."

"Check the bass, bra." Mikey pressed a random button and a rocket laucher popped out of the top then sent a rocket straight at Vern's car blowing it to smithereens.

"Uh-oh." Mikey said.

"Ooh." The other winced while Vern looked like he was going to have a break down.

"My bad. I'm still figuring out the buttons." Mikey told them bashfully.

"That was my new Fenwick Express!" Vern breathed out. "I just... I just got that."

"We better get out of here." Gwen commented. "Want a ride home?"

"You know what?" Jenny said glancing at a still distraught Vern. "I think we're gonna take the subway."

"You sure?" Mikey asked taking Jenny's hand. "I got a real nice song that's all cued up. It's special, girl."

"No, don't."

"For us."

"Come on, Mikey."

"No, no, no, Mikey, you promised."

"It's happening." He said before bursting into song.

_"Imagine me and you I do _

_I think about you day and night _

_It's only right_

_To think about..."_

"I'm making really good headway!" Mikey said as they pulled him back into the van and started to take off.

"Shut up, Mikey!" They all yelled.

Jenny giggled as he continued to sing despite his siblings. Mikey was not deterred as he burst out of the back still singing.

_"I can't see me loving nobody but you_

_For all my life_

_When you're with me, baby_

_The skies'll be blue_

_For all my life!"_


End file.
